Aussie tradie dies after ‘brawl’ in Thailand
The 58-year-old man has been identified as a construction worker from Western Australia.
WA News
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An Australian man who died on the street in Thailand after allegedly being king hit by a mate during a night out has been named.
Perth construction worker John Max Neale, 58, was reportedly drinking beer with a 29-year-old from the UK when the pair got into a drunken scuffle outside popular party city Pattaya on September 27.
Paramedics were called to the street at around 4.30am local time and found Mr Neale without a pulse.
It is believed Mr Neale was punched and hit his head on the pavement. He was taken to Pattaya Memorial Hospital but could not be revived.
Police Major Tanongsak Inphadung of the Pattaya City Police Station confirmed the death this week, stating that authorities had footage of the brawl.
“The suspect still denies the charges, but he cannot contest us because we have complete evidence. We have security camera footage from the restaurant and four witnesses who drank together with them. They were all Thais,” he said.
Mr Inphadung said police were working to detain the UK man.
“He refused to say anything, even though we had an interpreter, and he will get a lawyer to defend the lawsuit,” he said.
“The suspect was drunk at the time. We need to wait for the autopsy results to see if the deceased was also drunk, but he was seen drinking for hours before the incident. They were tenants on the same floor.”
It is not clear what caused the street fight.
Mr Neale was originally from Leicester in the UK before moving to Mount Helena in Western Australia.
He ran his own construction consulting business, according to his Facebook page.
Pattaya has garnered a reputation for sex tourism in recent years.
It used to be a respectable fishing village but became popular with American soldiers in the 1960s who enjoyed “rest and relaxation” there amid a boom in the town’s sex trade.
To this day there are still many bars and clubs advertising the services of sex workers.
Originally published as Aussie tradie dies after ‘brawl’ in Thailand
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