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Old 01-11-2008, 12:24 PM   #1
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Initial Report of Shooting & Stabbing - (details sketchy at this stage)

The incident occurred on Wednesday night 9th Jan 2008 on a yacht moored in the sea off Kata beach. After being informed of a shooting on a yacht, police led by Chalong superintendent Pol. Col. Samarn Chainarong rushed to the scene and found a New Zealand man Pierre Alain Oberson badly wounded. The man was sent to Phuket International Hospital. A girlfriend of the victim who declined to give out her full name told police that while she was on board with Mr. Alain, a westerner wearing a diving suit, climbed up to the boat and used a gun in a plastic bag to force the victim to give him valuables. Mr. Alain fought back and got shot in the chest and leg while the robber was also shot and pushed off into the sea during the fight. They then fired the firework for a distress signal. A Thai man, Weeraphol Jaiyen who was on board another tourist boat heard the sound and came to help. Police used a long tail boat to search for the robber and found his body floating dead nearby with no identification papers.

The Chalong Police superintendent said this is the first time such a robbery on a yacht occurred and that he instructed officers to impose strict patrols around the bay to prevent such bad incidents reoccurring. Police also took photos of the dead man and seek public cooperation if they know the man as it would help police to further investigate the case.

PS EDIT :- already differing accounts of the incident are emerging - therefore difficult to report as to accuracy and characters etc at this stage.
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Old 01-11-2008, 01:27 PM   #2
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Originally Posted by MMNETSEA View Post
Initial Report of Shooting & Stabbing - (details sketchy at this stage)

PS EDIT :- already differing accounts of the incident are emerging - therefore difficult to report as to accuracy and characters etc at this stage.
Here is latest Report from the Phuket Gazette - They are in the best position to give the most accurate account :-

Frogman killed in Kata Bay fracas

KARON: Chalong Police are investigating the bizarre killing, apparently in self-defense, of an unknown frogman who attacked a Swiss yacht owner and a Thai woman late Wednesday night.

The details of the case, as provided to the media at a press conference yesterday afternoon by Chalong Police Superintendent Col Saman Chainarong, are based on the eye-witness account of 25-year-old Trat native Porntip Pradit.

Also present at the press conference were Police Region 8 Deputy Commissioner Maj Gen Tavat Boonfueng and Phuket Provincial Police Deputy Commander Col Paween Pongsirin.

Col Samarn told the media that K. Porntip called police about 11:30 pm on Wednesday from a yacht anchored about 500 meters offshore from the Club Med Resort at Kata Beach.

Speaking in a panicked voice, she told police that Swiss national Pierre-Alain Oberson, 50, who had been shot in his left shoulder, was in urgent need of medical assistance, Col Samarn said.

Chalong Police responded to the distress call by arranging for a longtail boat to take them to the vessel.

K. Porntip fired three flares from the boat to inform police of her location.

Mr Oberson was rushed to Phuket International Hospital, where he remains in the Intensive Care Unit.

It will be at least five days before he can be questioned, Col Samarn said.

About 70 meters from the vessel, police recovered the body of a lightly bearded, middle-aged Caucasian male wearing a black diving suit, complete with swim goggles and fins. He had sustained two large wounds: one to his left eye and the other to his left wrist.

Doctors at Vachira Phuket Hospital had confirmed that the cause of death was blood loss from the wound to his wrist, Col Samarn said.

He explained that under questioning K. Porntip had told police that she and Mr Oberson were aboard the yacht that night when they noticed a man with a bag swimming toward the vessel.

Intrigued, they began to talk with the man and then invited him aboard. The man said he enjoyed swimming and diving at night, he said.

The man remained aboard for about one hour, during which time the group drank beer and coffee together while the man inspected the vessel. “He stayed about one hour and then said, ‘I have to go.’ Then he said goodbye,” Col Samarn quoted the woman as saying.

Rather than leave, the man reached into his bag and pulled out a homemade gun and a knife. With the gun in one hand and the knife in the other, the man ordered K. Porntip to tie up Mr Oberson with rope and gag him with black electrical tape, said Col Samarn.

As she began to do so, both she and Mr Oberson exchanged glances before simultaneously charging at the man. In the ensuing fight, the man was hit twice by Mr Oberson with a boat hook, he added.

The man then fired his gun once, hitting Mr Oberson in his left shoulder, before jumping overboard.

Police are still seeking leads to discover the identity of the intruder and are especially interested in his homemade gun, recovered from the seabed by Marine Police around noon yesterday.

As the gun was unlike any they had seen before – it fired with a switch rather than a conventional trigger – they suspect the man may have been a weapons expert and will contact Interpol to see if his description matches the profile of a known international terrorist, Col Samarn said.

Immigration are also trying to identify the man, he said.

Anyone with information that could help in his identification is urged to contact Capt Theerawut Thep-Luen at Chalong Police Station, he added.

Col Samarn said that Mr Oberson had come to Thailand with his wife and two young children, a boy and a girl, all three of whom were staying at a resort on Koh Racha Yai when the incident took place, he said.

Suspicious that the unknown diver might have been the same man who robbed the Karon branch of Siam Commercial Bank of 420,000 baht last June, police presented photos of the man to staff there.

He did not fit the description of the bank robber, Col Samarn said.

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Maj Gen Tavat Boonfueng holds up a photo of Mr Oberson with his family. Mr Oberson is recovering in the ICU at Phuket International Hospital. In the foreground is his unknown attacker’s homemade gun, which has led police to suspect that Mr Oberson’s assailant may have been a weapons expert or international terrorist.
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Old 01-11-2008, 03:53 PM   #3
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I'm guessing the 25-year-old Trat native Porntip Pradit may know the diver.
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Old 01-11-2008, 05:02 PM   #4
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I'm guessing the 25-year-old Trat native Porntip Pradit may know the diver.
I'm guessing that it won't be just the police that are asking Mr Oberson some questions..........
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Old 01-11-2008, 07:18 PM   #5
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Sounds tawdrey.
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Old 01-11-2008, 10:29 PM   #6
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Speculation regarding the events surrounding this incident - should be regarded as mere speculation and nothing else at this stage.

Here is an image of the beach at KATA YAI Bay where it is alleged that the fracas aboard the yacht took place - approx 500 metres towards Koh Phu (Crab Islet) seen at the left of the picture - A storm approaching at low tide.

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Old 01-12-2008, 03:20 AM   #7
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At 0400 GMT -- 1100 LT Sat 12 Jan 08 - no further developments reported by local news organisations.

However, happy to advise we have ascertained that the yachtsman Pierre-Alain Oberson is no longer in intensive care :-

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Photo Credit :- Lars-Göram Dikander

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Old 01-12-2008, 03:23 AM   #8
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WOW!

What a story!

Stranger than fiction!

To Life!

Kirk
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Old 01-12-2008, 04:11 AM   #9
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Interesting dual barrel pistol design...looks battery powered. I wonder if the design plans can be found on the web?
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Old 01-12-2008, 08:33 AM   #10
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I notice that they have been showing "Dead Calm" on HBO Asia these past 2 weeks. Perhaps this tourist assailent got inspired!
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Old 01-12-2008, 08:55 AM   #11
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I notice that they have been showing "Dead Calm" on HBO Asia these past 2 weeks. Perhaps this tourist assailent got inspired!
Speculation at this stage - by tomorrow we may know the identity - if not other salient facts.
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Old 01-12-2008, 07:55 PM   #12
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Good to see the cadaver photos have been removed.

I didn't know you could make someone bleed to death by poking them a few times with a boat hook...more to this one than meets the eye methinks....
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Old 01-12-2008, 08:02 PM   #13
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Frank you could be right about more than meets the eye. I can tell you this I am sure I could puncture the heck out of someone, and rip out flesh on the way out....ADRENILINE
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Old 01-16-2008, 03:57 AM   #14
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Credit PHUKET GAZETTE

Tuesday 15th January

KARON - West Coast Phuket Island : After days of intense speculation, Chalong Police investigating the bizarre death of a frogman who attacked a Swiss yacht owner and a Thai woman on the night of January 9 have finally identified the attacker as German national Peter Michael Schmid, aged 35.

The investigation by Chalong Police included showing pictures of the deceased frogman to hotel employees in Kata-Karon and Rawai.

Chalong Police Superintendent Col Samarn Chainarong told the Gazette that police still believe the attack was a botched robbery because Schmid had a gun, knife and black electrical tape with him when he boarded the vessel, a 10-meter sailboat named Maria.

Schmid was also thought to have been suffering from stomach cancer at the time of his death, Col Samarn added.

Most of the details of the attack, as provided to the media at a press conference on January 10, are based on the eye-witness account of 25-year-old Trat native Porntip Pradit.

After the attack, Schmid’s body was recovered by police and rescue workers about 70 meters from Maria. He had sustained two large wounds: one to under his left eye and the other to his left wrist, inflicted by a gaff, or boat hook, kept aboard Maria.

Doctors at Vachira Phuket Hospital confirmed that the cause of death was blood loss from the wound to his wrist, Col Samarn said.

The victim Mr Orberson, 50, was rushed to Phuket International Hospital, where he was initially kept in the Intensive Care Unit for a gunshot wound to his shoulder.

He was released on Saturday, before he could be questioned by police.

Chalong Police say they know where Mr Oberson is and that they plan to question him soon. They will have to file murder charges against him as a matter of procedure, though they expect the charges to be dropped eventually because all of the available evidence indicates that he was acting in self-defense.

Mr Oberson had come to Thailand with his wife and two young children, a boy and a girl, all three of whom were staying at a resort on Koh Racha Yai when the incident took place, Col Samarn said.

Col Samarn confirmed reports that Schmid had previously taken a dive course with local dive operator Dive Asia.

A spokesperson for Dive Asia confirmed that a man named Peter Michael Schmid completed a dive course with the operator within the past three years, but declined to give additional information.

Phuket Gazette :- http://phuketgazette.com/news/index....=2008116111057
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