Australian gunmen walk free after short Phuket Prison stint

PHUKET: Two Australian tattoo parlor owners are now out of prison after mistakenly shooting two German tourists while trying to gun down alleged Danish mafioso Dennis Mark Knudsen on January 22.

John Cohen, 32, and Adam Shea, 26, were released on April 11 after having served about 40 days of prison time.

“They were sentenced to a six-month, 15-day suspended prison term and fined 7,500 baht,” Phuket Provincial Prison’s General Administration chief Suparat Tantipongwiwat confirmed.

However, the two men chose to serve time at a rate of 200 baht a day instead of paying the fine, Mr Suparat explained.

Mr Cohen and Mr Shea’s target, Mr Knudsen, 24, is currently in prison after being caught for breaking his 2012 bail conditions (story here).

Mr Knudsen was wanted for breaking bail after he failed to appear at Phuket Provincial Court on January 22 to resolve a dispute with Mr Cohen and Mr Shea about a “big bike” worth about 300,000 baht, which eventually led to the tattoo parlor owners attempting to make a “hit” in the tourist dense party town of Patong (story here).

Mr Knudsen was arrested by Pattaya Police on September 20, 2012 on outstanding embezzlement charges. The warrant, number 432/2555, was issued by the Phuket Provincial Court on August 27, 2012.

Mr Knudsen was taken back into the court’s custody on February 3, 2013.

— Orawin Narabal