TRAT — In the eastern Thai seaside province of Trat, a new dispute has arisen over a public beach area involving a conflict between a Thai and a foreigner. However this case ended well, with the foreigner agreeing to apologize to the Thai man.
on June 28, officers at Mai Rood police station in Trat Province investigated the incident and summoned both the Thai man and the Belgian man involved to the station for mediation after the story broke in the media.
The incident began when Mr. Thakorn, a 60-year-old Thai man, reported through the media that he had a confrontation with Mr. Mario, a 52-year-old Belgian man, on Wednesday morning as he was riding his bicycle past the foreigner’s resort. A pack of 5-6 dogs charged at him and tried to bite him, causing him to fall off his bike.
As he stood up, a foreigner came out of the resort and shouted at him in English to leave the beach area. The foreigner pushed him three times, causing him to fall and injure his left leg. He also threatened: “Do not disturb the beach area. Don’t disturb me. I have a gun.”
Afraid of the dogs and the foreigner, Thakorn went home to Khlong Takian, intending to get his bike later. When he returned with a friend, he found that the foreigner had thrown his bike into the sea, not far from the scene. He then reported the matter to the Mai Rood police station.
The police summoned Mario for questioning on June 26. He admitted to releasing the dogs, threatening Thakorn and pushing him three times. The police recorded the incident and fined Mario 1,000 baht before releasing him.
Thakorn expressed his concern and hoped that this incident would not happen to others, especially locals passing by or cycling on the public beach. He advised people to be wary of the resort’s dogs, which roam the beach and attack people.
He also criticized the police for using Mario’s Thai wife as an interpreter without checking Mario’s background and only checking his passport, not his visa or CCTV footage from the scene.
A Channel 3 reporter later interviewed Mario, who claimed that the incident did not happen as Thakorn had described it. He denied having a gun and said he had only asked Thakorn to turn his bike around. However, he expressed a desire to apologize to Thakorn.
The reporter also interviewed a 78-year-old woman named Bat, a local resident who stated that she had been bitten on the thigh by Mario’s dog while she was walking along the beach near the resort collecting garbage to sell. She said that at the time, Mario’s Thai wife gave her 200 baht for wound treatment medication. Now, villagers are afraid to walk past this foreigner’s resort for fear of being bitten by dogs like she was.
After the media reported this news, the police at Mai Rood Police Station invited both parties involved to come to an agreement. It took nearly 1 hour to reach a resolution. Mario agreed to apologize to Mr. Thakorn, admitting that he had pushed Mr. Thakorn, causing injury.
The Belgian man then performed a wai (Thai greeting gesture) to Mr. Thakorn at the beach and apologized. The two then shook hands to resolve the conflict. The police officers will record at Mai Rood Police Station that Mario has promised not to cause such incidents again.
Mr. Thakorn said he hopes this case will be the last of its kind where foreigners mistreat Thai people, as has happened several times before. He added that he welcomes all foreigners who come to travel in Thailand and Trat province.
Previously, a similar dispute occurred in Phuket Province when a Swiss man named David kicked a Thai female doctor while she was sitting on the steps near the beach in front of his villa. This led to a major legal case where the police had to investigate the encroachment of public beach areas. It also sparked a social media backlash against foreigners who come and assert their dominance over local people.
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