American tourists facing prison for spray painting graffiti in Bangkok offer their apologies
- 5 years ago
Two American tourists were facing up to three years in prison after they were arrested for spray-painting shop-fronts in Thailand.
Sell Ternberg , 28, Nicole Gollen, 24, along with a third unidentified friend were walking the street in the Chinatown area of Bangkok on May 29.
CCTV footage from the early hours of the morning shows the trio stopped in front of a shop before they began vandalising properties around 1 am.
The woman gave the spray cans to her friends before each of them started climbing on a steel gate and spray painting the door. The man wearing a cap also took photos of the graffiti before leaving.
The tourists continued spraying on more walls and doors around the area, including on the resident’s pickup truck with the phrase ''Mind the gent Youngrektum 2019”.
Tourist police began searching for the vandals and finally arrested two of them on June 5 in the coastal city of Pattaya.
The two tourists told the police that the third person in the video had already left Thailand. They admitted that there were three of them that sprayed paint onto the public and private property because they were very drunk.
Ternberg said: “We’d like to apologise to Thai people. And I hope this could warn other tourists not to repeat the action because they would be arrested by Thai police.”
A spokesman from the Chakrawat police station said the three tourists face charges of damaging public and private property and will have to pay more than 40,000 baht (1,000GBP) in fines. However, the third man seen in the video is likely to escape punishment having already left the country.
The spokesman said: “Officers of Immigration Bureau were already informed about the case. After they face the legal action, their visas will be revoked and they will be blacklisted as persona non grata and deported.”
The maximum jail term for criminal damage is three years in prison but previous cases suggest that the tourists will be deported without doing time.
Sell Ternberg , 28, Nicole Gollen, 24, along with a third unidentified friend were walking the street in the Chinatown area of Bangkok on May 29.
CCTV footage from the early hours of the morning shows the trio stopped in front of a shop before they began vandalising properties around 1 am.
The woman gave the spray cans to her friends before each of them started climbing on a steel gate and spray painting the door. The man wearing a cap also took photos of the graffiti before leaving.
The tourists continued spraying on more walls and doors around the area, including on the resident’s pickup truck with the phrase ''Mind the gent Youngrektum 2019”.
Tourist police began searching for the vandals and finally arrested two of them on June 5 in the coastal city of Pattaya.
The two tourists told the police that the third person in the video had already left Thailand. They admitted that there were three of them that sprayed paint onto the public and private property because they were very drunk.
Ternberg said: “We’d like to apologise to Thai people. And I hope this could warn other tourists not to repeat the action because they would be arrested by Thai police.”
A spokesman from the Chakrawat police station said the three tourists face charges of damaging public and private property and will have to pay more than 40,000 baht (1,000GBP) in fines. However, the third man seen in the video is likely to escape punishment having already left the country.
The spokesman said: “Officers of Immigration Bureau were already informed about the case. After they face the legal action, their visas will be revoked and they will be blacklisted as persona non grata and deported.”
The maximum jail term for criminal damage is three years in prison but previous cases suggest that the tourists will be deported without doing time.