Travel agent killed in Phuket

[GoOnThen]

POLICE are hunting two killers who knifed to death a 60-year-old Perth travel agent in a bag-snatch gone wrong on the Thai holiday island of Phuket last night.

Mother-of-two Michelle Smith, struggled to hold her bag and was slashed with a sharp knife. A 10cm knife wound to the heart killed her soon after as two men sped off on a motorcycle about 10.30pm local time (11.30pm WA time).

Mrs Smith, who is married with two grown children Chanelle and Cameron Smith, worked as a senior travel consultant with RAC Travel in Joondalup.

A neighbour at the couple's Butler home this morning said a shocked Mr Smith was trying to organise the return of his wife's body.

Mrs Smith had been walking with a friend, a 42-year-old woman, near their hotel complex in Kata Noi Bay, on Phuket's west coast, about 10.30pm last night when they were attacked by two men who approached on the bike.

The men attempted to steal the women's handbags and lashed out with a knife when they couldn't grab them.

The second woman suffered a slash wound to her arm and was taken to hospital in Phuket, but was allowed to leave early today after receiving stitches.

The wounded woman told police later: "We were walking single-file along the road, coming back from dinner. These guys had gone past a couple of times, and that started to bother us.

"Then I heard a noise behind me and I turned to see what I thought was my friend being pushed in the chest. I tried to help her.

"The men rode off, empty-handed. We started walking again, and only then did we realise we'd both been slashed."

The woman collapsed and died on the road outside the hotel, cut in the heart. Staff rushed to help the other woman.

A DFAT spokesman told PerthNow: “We can confirm the death of a 60-year-old Australian woman from Western Australia in Phuket and are providing consular assistance to her family.

"We are also providing consular assistance to a 42-year-old Australian woman from Western Australia who was injured in the incident.''

Both women were in a group of 10 travel agents from Perth who had arrived on Phuket on Monday to inspect the five-star Katathani Beach Resort, which dominates the small bay at Kata Noi, south of Patong and Karon, on Phuket's west coast.

The group are going to attempt to return to Perth this afternoon.

Prominent Perth travel agent and former WAFL star George Michalczyk, proprietor of Motive Travel, said he understood the travel agents had just completed a hotel inspection and had dinner before the incident occurred on Kata Beach, which was quieter than the main nearby tourist area of Patong.

The offenders had circled the group several times and made the group feel uneasy before he attempted the robbery.

Travelling companion says 'I''m ok'

Perth travel agent Kylie Daff, who is with the group in Phuket, posted on Facebook this morning: "Guys it may have hit local news... I am ok... with a supportive group of people... Can't update further just yet.. will keep post when ok to do so".

Mr Michalczyk said he received a text message early this morning from one of his staff members, who was with the group in Phuket.

"One of my staff is with them," he told 6PR.

"It's just amazing how something can get out of hand like this.

"You would just never ever ever contemplate that something like that would happen."

He said crime such as this was not expected in a place like Phuket.

``To turn around and attack someone so viciously and kill them in the street in front of all this group ... from what I gather, all the staff and all the people in the street were just blown away with what happened.

``Will it scar Phuket? I hope it doesn't.''

Jayson Westbury, chief executive of the Federation of Australian Travel Agents, said it was a tragedy.

``Dreadful news for the family, dreadful news for the travel industry here in Australia,'' Mr Westbury told ABC Radio.

``We're doing everything we can to try and reach out and see if we can assist there.''

Two watched on in horror

Two of the travel agents later watched in sorrow, hugging each other and crying, as the body of their holiday companion was shifted from a makeshift resting place in a loading dock at the resort to an ambulance.

Grainy security camera footage captured the men on the motorcycle but the numberplate could not be distinguished. Police believe a particularly sharp weapon was used.

The brutal murder of a tourist will shock the entire holiday island of Phuket, just as it shocked staff and guests at the Katathani last night. The owner of the Katathani, Sombut Atiset, came to see what had happened.

Australian honorary consul Larry Cunningham sped to the Phuket International Hospital in Phuket City to check the condition of the wounded woman before joining Phuket police in interviewing her at the resort.

Australian embassy officials are in the process of contacting the woman's family in Australia.

The Katathani on Kata Noi bay is one of the quieter parts of Phuket, some distance from the noisy swirl of crowded Karon and Patong and one of the least likely places on Phuket for this kind of brutal murder.

Bag-snatching by youths on motorcycles is one of the perils of Phuket, particularly for women out walking in isolated streets. But it was the first time anyone could remember a tourist being killed.

A young German visitor had her thumb cut off in a similar savage incident in Krabi Town, a province nearby, earlier this year. Her thumb was successfully reattached in surgery on Phuket and four youths were quickly arrested and charged.

Lately, talk on Phuket has been about the mysterious deaths of two Canadian sisters whose bodies were found on Friday in a room on Phi Phi, another holiday island a ferry ride from Phuket, or the six drownings of tourists that have occurred on Phuket beaches in the space of one month and a day.

Phuket police are likely to pull our all stops in their efforts to find the killers. The holiday island made international news in February when Hollywood actor Jeremy Renner was in a group attacked by axe and knife-wielding security guards at a pub in Phuket City.

Prominent Phuket resort owner-manager Vorasit Issara was seriously injured but Renner was unharmed.

http://www.perthnow....u-1226403697496

A friend of ours is part of this group and at this point they cant come home. A terrible experience all round

Cheers

Got