Phuket—
At 3:30 PM, on March 9th, 2024, Mr. Sophon Suwannarat, the Phuket Governor, held a press conference regarding the case progress of Mr. David, a Swiss expat who allegedly attacked a Thai female physician.
Thai national media reported that previously Deputy Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul issued an urgent order to the Phuket Governor who reportedly was participating in a tourism event in Germany to return to Thailand. The David case caused significant controversy among Thai citizens and needed attentive monitoring, said Anutin.
Sophon publicly revealed that after the incident, he had been following up on the David case closely with a direct call to the Deputy Governor from Germany.
The case included encroaching on the public area, revoking David’s visa and registration of two firearms (As well as investigating officials who illegally approved issuing firearm registrations for a foreigner, which is against Thai gun regulations technically), and considering repealing his charity foundation as David was under investigation as to whether he used his elephant foundation to seek benefits and if they were actually rented and not animals in need of sanctuary.
Sophon further added that he would arrange committees to investigate all entrepreneurs who might have their property encroaching on beach areas as they are public property. The Phuket government would also consider expropriating the land that extended to the beach areas for public benefits, said Sophon.
Currently, David is on bail in a specified area, and he must report himself to Thai immigration officials every 15 days, said Sophon. He was on a special visa for court proceedings after his business visa allowing a long stay in Thailand was revoked. He was reportedly appealing this revocation through his lawyer but the Thai Minister of the Interior, Anutin Charnvirakul, has publicly said he would veto any such appeal which was within his authority.
Sophon added that anyone, foreigner or Thai, who violated Thai laws would be held accountable without exemption. The Phuket government had been closely monitoring illegal activities in the local areas with collaboration from all sectors, remarked Sophon.
