An Australian who gunned down an American in a Chiang Mai bar was last week released from prison after spending just over two years in jail.The victim's family wants an inquiry into why he received such a light sentence
The early release from Klong Prem prison of an Australian who shot dead an American in a Chiang Mai bar has prompted calls for an investigation into his claimed links to Thai police as an under-cover drugs operative. Bill Douglas, a fit 61-year-old former soldier and fluent speaker of Thailand's northern dialect, in the early hours of March 23 in 2008 fired two bullets into the chest of 46-year-old Gary Poretsky.
When the doomed man collapsed to the ground at Chiang Mai's Keari restaurant and bar, Douglas made sure of his work with a pistol shot to the head.
But last week he was released from Klong Prem, pending deportation back to Australia, after serving little more than two years behind bars for the brutal killing. He is due to be flown out on June 16, Immigration officials said.
There were unconfirmed suggestions he was trying to use his police contacts to avoid deportation.
The victim's mother, Sandra Fall, said she suspected foul play in relation to the way Douglas was dealt with.
"Had that trial been held in the US, he certainly would have received life in prison for cold-blooded murder," Mrs Fall said.
The killing had left a "tremendous void" in her life.
"A day doesn't go by that I don't think of Gary and shed tears," Mrs Fall said.
"Douglas is a vicious man and should not be allowed back into society. What will prevent him from murdering the next victim if they disagree with him. He is not fit to live in our world."
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith declined to comment on the family's call for an inquiry.
One expatriate familiar with the case said two Australians had previously left Thailand fearing Douglas would be released here and that their lives would be in danger.
Some other foreigners were also concerned, having heard that Douglas believed he had been betrayed by former friends.
Douglas had not been due for release on parole before December this year, but was released earlier because he was included on an official list of candidates to be considered for a general amnesty.
The victim's family and friends had already been lobbying for an inquiry into the original sentence, which was incredibly short by Thai standards.
They were shocked to learn that regardless of this campaign, Douglas has been released even earlier than expected.
The tall, balding Australian allegedly had bragged of killing two Thai men while operating as a police informant in drugs cases.
A police prosecutor only asked for a four-year prison sentence for Poretsky's killing. This was accepted by the trial judge, but halved to two years because Douglas entered a guilty plea. He was sentenced to an additional 18 months for firearms offences.
Poretsky, had moved to Hawaii from the US east coast in the 1980s and there acquired friends and enemies as result of both acts of kindness and past drunken excesses. He had apparently given up drinking in recent years and was something of a jack of all trades, working in construction, the fishing industry and as a musician.
He acquired the nickname Two Dogs from the pets that used to accompany him.
One blogger in Hawaii - who described Poretsky as a "low-level troublemaker" - said he still did not deserve to be gunned down in Thailand.
Poretsky had only been in the country for a few weeks when he was murdered and his last visit had been some 15 years before that.
He arrived at the restaurant where he was to die with a local woman identified only as Jirewadee, who subsequently invited Douglas to join their table.
Witnesses said there were tensions over Douglas - who was on a drinking binge - claiming he had used his pistol in undercover drugs operations. When queried about this, he had displayed the weapon he was carrying.
Douglas, who has told people he is a Vietnam War veteran, was to maintain later in court that Poretsky insulted Australia and Thailand by stating they were just "tools of America" in their military involvement in the Vietnam War.
Jirewadee testified that following a heated exchange Douglas left the table then returned a few minutes later. "He pulled out the gun and shot Gary two times in the chest," she said. "Gary fell to the ground and then Douglas fired a third shot into his head."
Whereas the Australian loved firearms and talking about them, a friend of Poretsky said the American, who had travelled to Thailand to undergo dental work, "hated guns".
Another conceded that his sarcasm could get on people's nerves.
Despite wayward behaviour when he had a drinking problem, friends said Poretsky would help people who were down and out as well as rescuing abandoned animals.
Outside one court hearing, handcuffed and with leg irons, Douglas was reported as saying he had "no regrets" over the American's death.
A subsequent video of Douglas at a Chiang Mai police lock-up shows him behind bars responding to a journalist's question about why he had shot Poretsky. "I did not like him," Douglas said with a broad grin. "He was crazy." Asked what his job in Thailand was, Douglas replied: "I work with the police."
Poretsky's family want an official inquiry to be established and for it to include an investigation into the relationship between Douglas and Thai police and what bearing that had on the prosecution and trial as well as the subsequent amnesty. Independent witnesses say they had seen Douglas in the company of senior police officers, both in Chiang Mai and Bangkok.
During his trial, Douglas arranged for 100,000 baht to be presented to a woman who claimed Poretsky intended to become her partner and support her.
That had a cultural dimension, a tacit display of remorse and practical compensation to a Thai citizen impacted by the actions of a foreigner.
But many people in Chiang Mai familiar with this aspect of the saga are highly dubious about the woman's case for such compensation and saw it more as opportunism on her side and ritual display on the other.
One acquaintance of Douglas said they understood he completed a tour as a soldier in Vietnam in a relatively comfortable headquarters job, but when he returned for a second stint was sent on jungle patrols.
In this version of events, Douglas apparently lasted only a few months before having a nervous breakdown. Others have questioned his military record.
Associates told Spectrum that Douglas had been on psychiatric medication for many years.
There was talk in expatriate circles in Thailand during recent weeks that Douglas had been "collecting money" to help him secure early release from prison.
Even though he had lived in Thailand for 28 years - and was known to brandish an unlicensed pistol when drinking heavily at Chiang Mai bars - there does not appear to have been any attempt by authorities to disarm him.
Douglas told others that he was allowed to carry the weapon because of his undercover work for the police, which had included posing as a drug buyer in sting operations.
Poretsky's family believes that this aspect of the case should be included in the terms of reference for an official inquiry.
And now there are Thais and expatriates, in Chiang Mai and elsewhere, who also believe there needs to be a thorough investigation into how somebody such as Douglas could act as a vigilante, as he claims to have done.
A dark underbelly centred on a habit Douglas had of trying to find out information about foreigners he thought might be linked to drug dealing, be it heroin or large quantities of methamphetamines coming across the border from Burma.
He cultivated this reputation as an undercover agent.
"He was always going around snooping and trying to find out stuff about foreigners he was suspicious of," said one expatriate.
In the Poretsky murder case, the evidence in court was that it was a chance meeting at the Keari restaurant and bar to led to the killing.
However, one odd aspect of the case is the dead man was found to be carrying US$6,000 (194,000 baht) in cash on him - all in $100 bills.
It is probable the American was carrying the money to pay for the dental work he was undergoing in Chiang Mai - the stated main purpose of the trip to Thailand.
However, it is not known whether Douglas got wind of the fact that Poretsky was carrying around such a large amount of money and was trying to find out more about him.
The Australia Department of Foreign Affairs were consulting with members of his family in Australia, which includes a sister and a brother. The sister previously visited Chiang Mai during the murder trial.
It is unclear if there is any intention to ensure that Douglas is given a psychiatric assessment if he is successfully deported back to Australia.
One blogger described Douglas as a "nasty old man" who tried to be more Thai than Thais themselves and had thought it "funny to kill this man and literally get away with murder".
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment