Australian William Thomas Douglas jailed in Thailand.
March 2008, Australian citizen sentenced to prison in Thailand.
A 46 year old Hawaii resident named Gary Bruce Poretsky was fatally shot at an all night Thai restaurant in Chiang Mai, a northern city in Thailand. William Thomas Douglas, a 60 year old former Perth resident, has been arrested and now faces the death penalty in Thailand for the killing. Douglas, who claims to be a Vietnam War veteran and has a Thai wife, turned himself in to Chiang Mai police one and a half hours after the shooting.
According to reports, Poretsky had visited the Keari restaurant with a local Chiang Mai female he had befriended during his two week trip to Thailand, which included dental treatment in Bangkok. He had been introduced to Douglas by the female companion, who believed the two foreigners would enjoy conversing with each other.
Douglas, a long term resident of Chiang Mai who is fluent in Thai, had made the claim to this correspondent that he had been "working for the police" during his time in Thailand. However, Captain Somsak Pamthong, a police officer involved in the case, stated that there was no evidence to support this claim.
Some foreign expats living in Chiang Mai have described Mr. Douglas as a solitary figure and possibly mentally unstable. He has reportedly taught English at local schools despite lacking the required work permit and qualifications for the job.
Witnesses have reported that Douglas and Poretsky engaged in conversation which quickly escalated into a dispute, with Douglas then pulling out a 9-mm pistol and shooting Poretsky three times in the head and upper body.
Douglas fled the restaurant after the shooting, but later turned himself in to the Chiang Mai police. Although he admitted to shooting Poretsky, he claimed that he did not intend to kill him, according to Captain Pamthong.
William Thomas Douglas disliked American’s.
According to Captain Pamthong, Mr. Douglas expressed a dislike for Americans, claiming that they have a tendency to talk down to others and view themselves as superior. When asked about the shooting, Mr. Douglas stated from his cell in the Chiang Mai police station that he shot Poretsky because he simply didn't like him and thought he was crazy.
Despite Mr. Douglas's claims of being an informant or undercover operative for the Thai police, there is no evidence to support this assertion. Thai authorities have placed him on suicide watch and have disclosed that he is currently taking medication, but have not revealed the specific type or purpose of the medication.
Mr. Douglas will face charges of premeditated murder, for which the maximum penalty is death by lethal injection if he is found guilty. He will also be charged with carrying a firearm without a permit and lacking a license for the firearm. Following a ballistics report on the gun, bullets, and casings found at the scene, he is expected to be remanded in custody at Chiang Mai Remand Prison until his trial.
Aug 2008, lightens sentence for Australian murderer William Thomas Douglas after Bt100,000 cash payment.
The former Perth resident was sentenced to just two years and nine months imprisonment for the murder of a Hawaii resident, aged 46, in the northern Thailand city of Chiang Mai. This was after he made a cash payment of Bt100,000 (US$2,955) to a woman claiming to be the victim's girlfriend in a trial lasting less than three hours.
William Thomas Douglas, formerly of Willetton, admitted to shooting Gary Bruce Poretsky at the Keari restaurant on the morning of March 22, earlier this year, and was sentenced to four years imprisonment for murder, one year for having an unregistered firearm and a further six months for carrying a firearm in public.
However, because of his confession and guilty plea, he received a 50% reduction in sentence. Mr Poretsky, who was originally from Massachusetts but was a long-term resident of Hawaii, had come to Thailand for dental treatment, which is much cheaper than in the USA.
According to court records, Mr Poretsky arranged to meet a Thai woman he had met in Pai a week earlier for drinks around 8 pm on March 21. The woman, who goes by the name Jirawadee, told the court that while she drank beer, Mr Poretsky only drank water because he had undergone dental treatment earlier that day.
After the restaurant they were in closed, they moved to the Keari restaurant, where, again, Mr Poretsky only drank water. Jirawadee claimed that they noticed Douglas in the restaurant, and Mr Poretsky invited him to join them. Although Douglas conversed with Mr Poretsky in English, he spoke fluent Thai with Jirawadee.
According to a witness, William Thomas Douglas claimed to be an undercover police operative for the Royal Thai Police (RTP), assisting them in identifying and capturing drug traffickers and users shortly before he shot Gary Bruce Poretsky at a restaurant in Chiang Mai. The witness, identified as Jirawadee, stated that Douglas even claimed to have killed two drug traffickers while working with the police.
However, Mr Poretsky did not believe Douglas and to prove his point, Douglas showed them his handgun. Jirawadee then went to ask the restaurant manager for help when the conversation became tense. She heard gunshots moments later, and when she returned to the table, she found Mr Poretsky lying on the ground. Douglas had shot him twice in the chest and once in the head.
During the trial, Douglas claimed that Mr Poretsky had antagonized him by criticizing the Vietnam War and stating that Australia and Thailand were dictated to by the US. Douglas, who was estranged from his girlfriend at the time of the shooting, said he shot Mr Poretsky after returning from a failed attempt to call his girlfriend. He claimed that he did not know what he was doing at the time. Douglas was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison after making a cash payment of Bt100,000 to the victim's girlfriend.
I am not Australian, I consider myself Thai.
During the trial, Douglas, who was accompanied by family members who had come from Australia, told the judge that the shooting was not characteristic of him, and that he had never before had any problems with law enforcement in either Australia or Thailand. He presented a bundle of character references from his family and friends as evidence.
When Chief Justice Chayut Prapakamon asked Douglas how long he would be sentenced to for a similar crime in Australia, Douglas responded by saying that he had lived half of his life in Australia and the other half in Thailand, and that he considered himself to be Thai rather than Australian. When Justice Chayut inquired about the length of time he believed he should be imprisoned, Douglas said “six months.”
Justice Chayut said that this was insufficient, citing that "Thai law states that the penalty for murder is either death or imprisonment between 15 and 25 years." However, when Justice Chayut sought a sentencing recommendation from the Provincial Public Prosecutor, Sonthaya Kruewate, the response was “four years.”
In unsworn testimony, a woman claiming to have been Mr. Poretsky's girlfriend for several months stated that he had promised to build her a house and that she was now burdened with debt and unable to finance the construction. Captain Somsak Pamthong, the investigating officer, said that at the time of the shooting, Mr. Poretsky had only been in Thailand for two weeks, and friends of his confirmed that he had not visited Thailand in at least 15 years.
Immediately following the shooting, Capt. Somsak reported that Douglas had told him during questioning that he had shot Mr. Poretsky because he disliked Americans and believed they talked down to everyone and considered themselves better than everyone. Douglas paid the woman, who went by the name of Kanlayawan and appeared to be wearing a dental nurse uniform, Bt100,000 in cash before Justice Chayut in open court before being sentenced.
Upon seeing the payment, Justice Chayut announced the sentence for the three charges and promptly left the court. Upon hearing the sentence, Douglas beamed broadly and happily informed his family and friends that the sentence meant he would serve only two years and nine months, minus the time he had already spent in remand. As he was escorted back to the court holding cells, Douglas had difficulty containing his grin, a sharp contrast to earlier in the day when he went to great lengths to conceal his face from waiting camera crews.
During the week of June 7, William Thomas Douglas received a royal pardon from HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej, reducing his sentence by six months. Despite facing deportation procedures, he is refusing to leave the country as he is married to a Thai woman and wishes to stay in the kingdom.
After being granted a royal pardon by HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej in June 2010, William Thomas Douglas resisted deportation procedures in order to remain in Thailand where he was married to a Thai woman. However, it is not clear what happened to him after that, as there are no further reports or updates on his case.