Terrance John White, 19, from Innisfail, Queensland, reported to police on Saturday that he was left by the side of the road in Nai Yang at about 3am that day after reportedly having an argument with the taxi driver over not using the meter to calculate the fare.
White also claimed that while he was walking along the road, four people turned up and robbed him at gunpoint.
He claimed the robbers made off with B10,000 and his iPhone.
White, along with officers from Sakoo Police Station – located south of Phuket International Airport and in the vicinity of where the claimed robbery took place – reported the incident to Thalang Police at 4pm on Saturday. (See story here.)
However, Lt Col Kittiphum Tinthalang of the Thalang Police confirmed to The Phuket News this morning (Nov 26) that White has now confessed that his claims of being robbed – and even of the taxi driver not using the meter – were fake.
“The reality is that he was very drunk and he lost his property himself and he didn’t know where it was,” Col Kittipoom said.
White confessed to police that his claims were fake while being questioned by officers at Thalang Police Station on Saturday, Col Kittipoom added.
“He also said that the taxi driver didn’t abandon him on the way. The driver took him to his hotel, and he even confessed that he puked in the taxi, too,” Col Kittiphum said.
Col Kittiphum that no charges will be brought against White for the fake report.
“Now everything is clear and finished, we can laugh,” he said.
Fake reports filed with police in Phuket can bring serious consequences. In 2012, Australian Stevie Bamford, then 21, was sentenced to 15 days incarceration at Bang Jo Detention Centre for giving a false statement to the police that she was raped in Patong. (See story here.)
In 2013, 19-year-old Danish national Morten Budtz Berthelsen was sentenced to six months in jail, suspended for two years, and fined B500 for making a false report to Kamala Police, in which he said he was attacked and robbed by a Thai gang at Kamala Beach. (See story here.)