Rawai attacks continue; Man survives machete attack

RAWAI: The late-night road attacks on motorcyclists in the south end of the island continue unabated, with two more reports of attacks in the last 24 hours and several others earlier this month continuing to pour in to the Gazette news desk.

Last night a 24-year-old Norwegian man, staying in Phuket on disability pension because he is officially registered as physically disabled in his home country, was kicked off his motorbike and robbed.

The attack occurred around the corner from Icon bar, where Australian tourist Sooz Lomas, 27, and a British friend were attacked on October 7.

The Norwegian man, who asked that his name not be reported, was robbed while he was still lying on the ground.

In Chalong about 1 am today, a foreigner who runs a business in Rawai was threatened by three knife-wielding teenagers. The attack occured outside a 7-Eleven branch located just 100 meters from Chalong Police Station.

A fight ensued and the police were called. The foreigner, who also asked that his name be withheld, told the Gazette that he was disappointed with the police response.

In breaking up the fight the officers seemed more concerned about him being a foreigner and involved in a fight than the knife-wielding teenagers, he told the Gazette in a telephone interview.

Also reported to the Gazette news desk today was an attack on another foreign tourist that took place at about 1 am on October 2 near Kata Viewpoint, the same area where Norwegian Simen Knudsen was murdered a week earlier.

New Zealand tourist Shaun Clotworthy, 49, told the Gazette,“I was heading down a very steep hill toward Kata and I was about three-quarters down to the bottom of the hill, where there is a sharp bend, when two men came from behind and kicked me off my motorbike,” he explained.

“As soon as I got up off the ground, one of the men attacked me with a machete. I was lucky I was wearing a helmet – the machete cracked it,” he said.

“I was able to get the machete off him, but then both of them pointed guns at me. It was very dark,

so I don’t know whether they [the guns] were real or not,” he added.

“They made off with my bag, which had my phone, camera and some books in it, but they didn’t get any money because it was in my pocket,” he said.

Another person soon came along on a motorbike and gave him a lift to the police box in Kata, where he handed in machete and police called for an ambulance to him to Patong Hospital, he said.

Mr Clotworthy needed three stitches in his left arm to closed the wound suffered from blocking the machete, he said.

In the fall off the motorbike suffered a bruised chest and serious abrasions, he added.

“In total I had 20 wounds. I was unable to shower for two weeks. The worst, which have still yet to heal, are the toes on my left foot,” he told the Gazette on October 23.

He reported the attack to Chalong Police on the morning of October 3, he said.

“I have no broken bones, I’m lucky to be alive,” he said.

“I am disappointed with the police. They don’t seem to want to tell tourists about what is happening here. They must be able to do something. These people [the muggers] are in that area all the time.”

Adding insult to injury, Mr Clotworthy was forced to delay his visa run to via Ranong due to his injuries. Although he presented Thai Immigration officers there the police report about his attack, he was charged three days’ overstay, he said.