William Thomas Douglas
A 61-year-old former Perth resident will serve just two years and
nine months imprisonment for the murder of a 46-year-old Hawaii
resident in the northern Thailand city of Chiang Mai after making a
cash payment of Bt100,000 (US$2,955) to a woman who claimed to be
the girlfriend of the victim in a trial that lasted less than three
hours.
William Thomas Douglas, formerly of Willetton, pleaded
guilty in the Chiang Mai Provincial Court to shooting Gary Bruce
Poretsky at the Keari restaurant on the morning of March 22, this
year and was sentenced to four years imprisonment for murder, one
year for having an unregistered firearm and a further six months for
carrying a firearm in public.
However, because he confessed
to the crime and pleaded guilty he received a 50 per cent reduction
in the sentence.
Mr Poretsky, a native of Massachusetts but long time
resident of Hawaii, was in Thailand for dental treatment where high
quality dentistry is considerably more affordable than the USA.
The court was told that Mr Poretsky arranged to meet a Thai
woman who he had met in Pai a week earlier for drinks at around 8pm
on the evening of March 21.
The woman, who goes by the single
name of Jirawadee, told the court that while she had drunk some
beer, Mr Poretsky had only drunk water because he had been to the
dentist for treatment earlier that day.
After the restaurant
they had been drinking in closed the couple moved on to the Keari
restaurant where again Mr Poretsky only drank water.
According to Jirawadee the couple noticed Douglas in the restaurant
and Mr Poretsky invited him to join them. While Douglas spoke to Mr
Poretsky in English, he spoke in fluent Thai with Ms Jirawadee.
She said not long before the shooting Douglas had told Mr Poretsky
and her that he worked as an undercover police operative for the
Royal Thai Police Force, assisting them in identifying and capturing
drug traffickers and users.
“He said he had already killed
two drug traffickers while working with the police,” Ms Jirawadee
said.
According to Ms Jirawadee, Mr Poretsky didn’t believe
him and to prove his point Douglas pulled out a handgun and showed
them.
“I couldn’t really understand a lot of what they were
talking about, but after he showed the gun the conversation got
tense and I went to ask the restaurant manager to help because the
gun made me frightened,” she said.
She said “Douglas then
left the table and a few minutes later returned. He pulled out the
gun and shot Gary two times in the chest. Gary fell to the ground
and then Douglas fired a third shot into his head.”
Ms
Jirawadee described Mr Poretsky as “a nice friendly person. I never
saw him get aggressive or raise his voice to anyone.”
Douglas
told the court that he had lived in Thailand for 28 years and that
prior to moving to Thailand he was a soldier in the Australian army.
He said he had completed two tours of duty in Vietnam before coming
to Thailand to teach English.
He said that Mr Poretsky had
antagonised him by criticising the Vietnam War and had said
“Australia should not have followed the US into the Vietnam War and
that Australia and Thailand were dictated to by the US.”
Douglas had previously told the court that at the time of the
shooting he was estranged from his Burmese girlfriend and living in
a hotel. “I left the table and tried to telephone my ‘wife’ but her
phone was turned off.
“When I returned Poretsky again claimed
Australia and Thailand are tools of the US and should not have sent
troops to the Vietnam War. I pulled out my gun and shot him, but at
the time I didn’t know what I was doing,” Douglas claimed.
Douglas, who was supported by family members from Australia who flew
to Chiang Mai for the trial, told the judge the shooting was out of
character for him and he had previously not had any trouble with the
police in either Australia or Thailand. He submitted a wad of
character references from family and friends to support this.
Chief Justice Chayut Prapakamon asked Douglas how long a
sentence he would receive for a similar crime in Australia to which
Douglas replied, “I’ve lived half my life in Australia and half my
life in Thailand. I don’t know about Australian sentencing laws. I
consider myself Thai now, not Australian.”
Chiang Mai
Chief Public Prosecutor, Sonthaya Kruewate, asked for four years
jail for Australian William Thomas Douglas. Photo: John Le Fevre
When Justice Chayut then asked
Douglas how long he thought he should be imprisoned for, Douglas
replied, “six months.”
Justice Chayut claimed this was
insufficient and told Douglas “Thai law states that for murder the
penalty is death, or between 15 and 25 years imprisonment.
When Justice Chayut asked for a sentencing recommendation from
Provincial Public Prosecutor Sonthaya Kruewate, the reply was, “four
years.”
A woman who claimed she had been the girlfriend of Mr
Poretsky and had known him several months earlier told the court in
unsworn testimony that Mr Poretsky had planned to build a house for
her and now she was left with a debt and couldn’t pay for building
the house.
At the time of the shooting the investigating
officer, captain Somsak Pamthong, said Mr Poretsky had only been in
Thailand for two weeks. Friends of Mr Poretsky confirmed that and
said he had not visited Thailand for at least 15 years.
Immediately following the shooting Capt. Somsak said Douglas had
told him during questioning that he had shot Mr Poretsky “because he
doesn’t like Americans. He thinks ‘they talk down to everyone and
consider themselves better than everyone.’”
Prior to being
sentenced and in open court in front of Justice Chayut, Douglas paid
the woman, who goes by the name of Kanlayawan and was dressed in a
dental nurses uniform, Bt100,000 in cash.
After seeing the
payment Justice Chayut then read the sentence for the three charges
and then immediately left the court.
On hearing the sentence
Douglas burst into a broad grin and cheerfully told his family and
friends the sentence meant he would serve only two years and nine
months minus the time he has been held in remand.
As he was
escorted back to the court holding cells Douglas had difficulty
keeping his grin under control – a stark contrast to earlier in the
day when he had gone to great lengths to hide his face from waiting
camera crews.
William Thomas Douglas was granted a royal pardon by HM
King Bhumibol Adulyadej during the week of June 7, cutting six
months off his sentence. He is resisting deportation procedures in
order to remain in the kingdom where he is married to a Thai woman.
Read more: Cash payment lightens sentence for Australian
murderer
http://photo-journ.com/cash-payment-lightens-sentence-for-australian-murderer/#ixzz2KDKX5NCV
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