Fork Handles
05-19-2009, 05:32 AM
The Australian woman arrested in Thailand for allegedly stealing a bar mat says she's "scared, helpless and alone" and is pleading for the Rudd government to intervene.
Annice Smoel, who spent four days in a cramped Thai jail with three other women, described her holiday gone wrong as "totally unbelievable".
Smoel, 36, from Montrose in Melbourne's east, faces five years in jail, but insists she's done nothing wrong.
During a telephone link-up from Phuket with reporters, she broke down saying she just wanted to get home to her four young daughters aged six, eight, 11 and 12.
"They are terrified and scared. I've already missed so much, I really want to be a good mum," she said.
Asked how she felt, she said "just scared, helpless, alone".
In the 14 days since her arrest for taking the bar mat from the Aussie Bar in Phuket where she was celebrating her mother's 60th birthday, she has missed one daughter's birthday, another's appendix operation and Mother's Day.
In a plea to the government, she said: "You've got to help me, I have not done anything wrong, this is a crock."
Her husband Darren has flown to Phuket to be by his wife's side.
"This is a complete joke - the Thai authorities have no compassion and no respect for Western women or the wrongly accused, it's just a joke," he said.
Despite Prime Minister Kevin Rudd saying all
available consular assistance is being provided, Mr Smoel says the action of the Australian government and consulate authorities has been "nowhere near good enough".
The family had tried offering money to Thai authorities but that was refused.
The owner of the Aussie Bar, Steve Wood, told Fairfax Radio Network that he believed Smoel had been abusive toward the undercover police who had stopped her in the bar.
"When they talked to her all they wanted to do was chastise her, and they usually let you go, but she did a runner on them... the police had to chase her down the beach," Mr Wood said.
"When they took her back to the police station, she continued to abuse everyone at the police station including the chief of police and I think this is what the problem is.
"It's more of an attitude problem than a crime problem."
She was charged with a "night time theft".
Mr Wood said he had not pressed charges.
Smoel insisted she was innocent of the theft which was committed by a friend who confessed to the police but was told to go away.
"I have been treated unfairly and held here for something I didn't do," she told Fairfax News Radio.
"They know I didn't do it, they have video evidence and one of the girls who was involved went down to the police on Sunday morning and confessed to the crime and apologised and they told her to go away, they didn't care."
Police confiscated Smoel's passport.
Mr Rudd says consular officials in Thailand are assisting Smoel.
"I've just been advised about this, the Foreign Minister and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are on top of this case," Mr Rudd told reporters in Melbourne .
"They are providing every level of consular assistance to the family and the individual concerned."
Smoel is required to report to authorities every two weeks as a condition of bail and it is expected to be 14 weeks before her case is heard in court.
Annice Smoel, who spent four days in a cramped Thai jail with three other women, described her holiday gone wrong as "totally unbelievable".
Smoel, 36, from Montrose in Melbourne's east, faces five years in jail, but insists she's done nothing wrong.
During a telephone link-up from Phuket with reporters, she broke down saying she just wanted to get home to her four young daughters aged six, eight, 11 and 12.
"They are terrified and scared. I've already missed so much, I really want to be a good mum," she said.
Asked how she felt, she said "just scared, helpless, alone".
In the 14 days since her arrest for taking the bar mat from the Aussie Bar in Phuket where she was celebrating her mother's 60th birthday, she has missed one daughter's birthday, another's appendix operation and Mother's Day.
In a plea to the government, she said: "You've got to help me, I have not done anything wrong, this is a crock."
Her husband Darren has flown to Phuket to be by his wife's side.
"This is a complete joke - the Thai authorities have no compassion and no respect for Western women or the wrongly accused, it's just a joke," he said.
Despite Prime Minister Kevin Rudd saying all
available consular assistance is being provided, Mr Smoel says the action of the Australian government and consulate authorities has been "nowhere near good enough".
The family had tried offering money to Thai authorities but that was refused.
The owner of the Aussie Bar, Steve Wood, told Fairfax Radio Network that he believed Smoel had been abusive toward the undercover police who had stopped her in the bar.
"When they talked to her all they wanted to do was chastise her, and they usually let you go, but she did a runner on them... the police had to chase her down the beach," Mr Wood said.
"When they took her back to the police station, she continued to abuse everyone at the police station including the chief of police and I think this is what the problem is.
"It's more of an attitude problem than a crime problem."
She was charged with a "night time theft".
Mr Wood said he had not pressed charges.
Smoel insisted she was innocent of the theft which was committed by a friend who confessed to the police but was told to go away.
"I have been treated unfairly and held here for something I didn't do," she told Fairfax News Radio.
"They know I didn't do it, they have video evidence and one of the girls who was involved went down to the police on Sunday morning and confessed to the crime and apologised and they told her to go away, they didn't care."
Police confiscated Smoel's passport.
Mr Rudd says consular officials in Thailand are assisting Smoel.
"I've just been advised about this, the Foreign Minister and Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade are on top of this case," Mr Rudd told reporters in Melbourne .
"They are providing every level of consular assistance to the family and the individual concerned."
Smoel is required to report to authorities every two weeks as a condition of bail and it is expected to be 14 weeks before her case is heard in court.