Italian man “stabbed by mistake’ in Phuket

PHUKET: The Italian man who was stabbed at Nai Harn Beach on Monday night has told the Phuket Gazette that he was probably “stabbed by mistake”.

Giovanni, 33, who asked for his family name not to be published, is recovering at Bangkok Hospital Phuket, in Phuket Town, where he was released from the hospital’s intensive-care unit (ICU) yesterday.

He was rushed to the hospital after being stabbed in the back. The wound, so deep that it punctured one of his lungs, required immediate surgery.

Giovanni’s cousin, Donna, who lives and works in Phuket, told the Gazette that Giovanni and her brother Mario were attacked by a gang of youths at the beach.

“Giovanni and Mario drove to Nai Han Beach on separate motorbikes at about 9.30pm after having dinner with us,” she said.

Her brother Mario and the sibling’s parents had to come to Phuket to visit Donna.

“Giovanni got off his motorbike and Mario was still sitting on his motorbike with the engine running when they were approached by about eight teenagers – between 17 and 20 years old – who were sitting on four motorbikes nearby,” she told the Gazette.

The “teenagers” walked up and surrounded Giovanni and Mario.

“They said something that my cousin and my brother did not understand,” said Donna.

Mario, still on the motorbike, sped away from the gang, while Giovanni tried running away.

“They chased them and one of the gang stabbed my cousin in the back while he was trying to get on the back of Mario’s motorbike, who had stopped to wait for him,” said Donna.

“Mario raced to hotel nearby and the hotel staff rushed them to my house, which is about two kilometers away in Rawai. I called Bangkok Hospital for an ambulance to take him to the hospital,” she added.

Giovanni was released from ICU yesterday only after doctors were sure he no longer needed assistance to breathe.

“I would like the police to do something. The police already got the report on the same day,” Donna told the Gazette.

“I don’t know why they attacked us because we did not have any fight with them. We didn’t know them at all. We had just arrived [at the beach],” said Giovanni, who speaks little English.

“I’m not sure whether they thought we were someone else who they had a problem with,” he told the the Gazette.

Giovanni and his male friend arrived in Phuket at 6pm on Monday. It is his first visit to Phuket.

He came to visit his cousin Donna, who lives and works in Phuket with her husband. The couple both work for a tour company.

Giovanni and his friend originally planned to fly to Bangkok and return to Italy at about the end of the month.

Their plan is now being reconsidered.

Mario, and his and Donna’s parents, left Phuket on Tuesday morning.

— Atchaa Khamlo