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British Expat Murdered In Pattaya


Pdoggg

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A retired British engineer was shot to death in Pattaya while traveling home last night, January 5th. The cause of the incident remains a mystery.

The gruesome shooting occurred while the victim, Mr. Neil Lewis Roger, was traveling home on his red Scoopy. The 70-year-old was shot four times and passed away instantly on the spot.

Roger’s body was discovered by Mr. Kittikhun Impeng, 29. He told The Pattaya News that he noticed the victim lying face down on the roadside at 10:30 PM. He contacted the authorities as soon as he realized that the victim was bleeding.

Sawang Boriboon rescuers and police arrived and examined Roger’s body. They found four gunshot wounds on his back as well as three 9mm. gun shells nearby. The items were kept as evidence, while the victim’s body was transferred to a local hospital.

Police met the victim’s wife, Ms. Thitiphan Kamlas, at the incident scene. As she mourned her beloved’s death, the 38-year-old Thai said the victim was a British engineer who chose to retire in Pattaya. He just returned to Thailand from England on January 4th after visiting his ill older sister.


On the day of the shooting, the victim reportedly went to a party with friends in Pattaya and did not come back home. The wife said she grew worried and was heartbroken when the authorities called her about his loss. Ms. Thitiphan stated she did not know if the victim had any enemies.

The case remains unsolved as of January 6th, as police still cannot pinpoint the exact motive behind the shooting. Pol. Col. Surakit In-um, superintendent of the Huai Yai police station, speculated a wide range of motives such as adultery, personal dispute, or road rage. The wife is being interrogated, and investigators are reviewing CCTV recordings to track down the still unidentified shooter.

https://thepattayanews.com/2023/01/06/70-year-old-british-ex-pat-shot-dead-in-pattaya/

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I saw a remark by someone who had lived in Thailand for some time that it is common for a lot of Thais to carry guns in their vehicle. They remarked that it would be most unlikely that the weapon would be used against a falang, nearly always a local if used at all. Hope it was not road rage?.

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10 hours ago, Pdoggg said:

He just returned to Thailand from England on January 4th after visiting his ill older sister.  The case remains unsolved as of January 6th,

speculated a wide range of motives such as adultery, personal dispute, or road rage.

Since his murder was the day after he returned to Thailand, that increases the probability that the murder was planned while he was away and executed upon his return.

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Farangs will always be considered second class citizens out here so you always have to keep this in mind. This a high profile case (made the UK papers) due to it being in a tourist hot spot but I suspect similar happenings occur all over Thailand and no-one is any the wiser especially if the guy has no relatives.

Personally, I prefer not to get involved in things that I can't just walk away from, whether it's relationships or larger purchases!

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3 hours ago, Zeppie said:

This is something you guys fear?

Not at all.  I feel extremely safe in Thailand.  Less so in the Philippines.

But a business owner, especially if one has partners could put you at risk.  I suppose bad neighbors could also put you at risk.  And also a relationship with a greedy partner.

For tourists, if you are willing to swallow your price and just walk away from bad situations you should be fine.  If you go with hundreds of girls you will probably have some conflict.  Just don't let problems escalate.

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6 minutes ago, Quietguy said:
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Today, (January 7th), Mr. Aphichart Boonsawat, 32, has surrendered to police with the handgun used in the crime. Mr. Aphichart has publicly apologized and stated he is sorry for what he has done.

Apichart told Pattaya police “I did not know the victim previously. While I was driving my car at Soi Chaiyapreuk, I was in the left lane waiting to turn. The victim, Mr. Roger, 70, who was on a motorbike, was behind me and loudly honked his horn. He also physically hit my car trying to get me to turn faster, but traffic prevented this.”

Thoughts and prayers are meaningless.

That said Mr Roger would still be alive if he didn't honk his horn.  Of course that certainly doesn't justify murder but nevertheless if you act out enough sooner or later there might be a bad outcome.

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Killer is described as being known as 'Big'. I wonder if he is into bodybuilding and uses steroids as that can result in 'roid rage'.

If he is big why would he need to shoot a 70 year old man several time? He could have just beat him if he was angry,  although also bad it would not have been as bad.

 RIP Mr Roger. You didn't deserve to die like that.

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10 hours ago, Zeppie said:

This is something you guys fear?

Being killed is at the extreme end of my fears here and seldom if ever crosses my mind, but I’m always aware incidents can escalate much faster here than at home in general. I have managed to avoid any unpleasant incidents with locals, be they be in the scene or not in all my years coming here.  Some guys just seem to bring problems and drama upon themselves, easier to just smile, walk away and keep your health no matter how in the wrong the local person is. 
 

Such a sad way to go, over something quite trivial but also a reminder to avoid conflict at all costs when in Los, you just never know. 

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12 hours ago, Pdoggg said:

 

That said Mr Roger would still be alive if he didn't honk his horn.  

Are you kidding me, Pdoggg.  How do you know if he honked his horn.  He also said he hit his vehicle with his motor bike, to try to make him move faster.....REALLY!!!  This murder is a flat out liar and a killer.   Honking the horn is the first thing they learn, before they learn how to start the damn thing.  Shooting a person in the back, 4 times, isn't self defense, it is an execution, and that's exactly what happened.

They know foreigners don't have protection, and therefore easy prey.   What gets under my skin, is the philosophy, that if you make up a BS story and say your sorry, this seems to less the issue, or reduces the sentence.  

 

 

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8 hours ago, Zeppie said:

How do you know if he honked his horn.  He also said he hit his vehicle with his motor bike, to try to make him move faster..

Of course there is no way that I could possibly know.

And the murderer has absolutely no excuse. He is a scumbag.

I wrote my post hastily with the wrong tone. What I am trying to say almost every altercation has dual responsibility to some degree, even if it is a very small degree.

I'm not trying to slut shame or blame victims.  But in general, there are things one can do to lessen the chance of being a victim. If a woman dresses provocatively, drinks excessively and passes out it doesn't mean excuse the rapist. But the woman's actions helped make the situation possible.

Maybe it wasn't road rage. Maybe it was a planned attack.  I don't know.

But if it was road rage then what can victims to lessen the chance of a road rage incident?  In some cases nothing.  In other cases drive defensively.  Perhaps try to control one's temper if a situation occurs.  Controlling one's temper is easier said than done though.

It's best to avoid expressing anger towards Thais.  But we often instantaneously react angrily to perceived insults.  If we do so there are usually no real consequences which further emboldens farang in the next situation.  But if someone gets into dozens of hostile situations with Thais then one of those situations is likely to have a bad outcome for the farang.  

Again it is entirely possible there was nothing the guy could have done differently. No way to know and the murderer has a strong incentive to lie. We'll never know.

 

 

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As Pdogg says the murderer has no excuse. He used a gun and shot the guy in the back. One cannot charge Thai people of seeing farangs as second class citizens. Farangs are no Thai citizen and this is something that we should take into consideration.
However, I read in another forum a lot of comments that only expressed contempt for Thai people. I noticed that guys posting such comments somet6imes had a bad adventure being beaten up by a Thai. I had no doubt they insulted them using the same words as in their forum posts.

When I was in the USA, I sometimes met some bad people who would be able to transmit a violent feeling, especially when they were in bad faith. It/ 9seems t/hey prefer to try to make violence increase rather than calm down. 
I also experienced British tourists playing at causing a fight when I was in Thailand. I remembered a drunk ladyboy walking around in Koh Phi Phi with a female mate and 2 male mates. I was tired, I needed to sleep but my hotel room was troo close to noisy bar. I coud have kicked her face with my head. Of course, this bastard would have complained I had started the fight. I'm happy such bastards don't visit Vietnam independantly from ladyboys. 
I'm spending my week in a ski resort and Brits are back. I thought this morning we were lucky this year. A large majority are friendly and polite. They're also older than the previous years. But I met one of these bastards this morning. He should understand that they don't make the law here? Either they like it or they quit it, especially now after they brexited. If the situation had been different, I would have punched his face. 

Farangs don't realize how arrogant it sounds when we start argueing in English. The farang has the advantage of the language as the English has the advantage on farangs speaking English as a Foreign language. The guy was wrong since he started argueing in English and his tone was threatening. One should remind farangs that the time of colonies has been over. We also should stop thinking that Asian people are retarded. Either we respect them or we quit. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 1/21/2023 at 7:41 PM, Woodie said:

If that is the wife in red,(and I am assuming it is), she does not seem that upset!.

She appears quiet charming and smiling.  No crying or distraught signs on her face from rough sleepless night(s).  Instead, all smiles and pretty.  That's not the face of a wife who's husband was just murdered.  Really makes you wonder and cautious.

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  • 1 year later...

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