Aussie Writer Jailed For Bad Book

What an attractive family

Harry Nicolaides an Australian writer wrote a novel four years ago, which contained a brief passage referring to an unnamed crown prince. It sold just seven copies.

For this he has been sentenced to three years in a Thailand jail.

He admitted the charge of insulting the royal family, but said he was unaware he was committing an offence.

Nicolaides was arrested as he was leaving the country last August.

His self-published book, called Verisimilitude, is a must read book about a young boy and his homosexual unicorn for some reason it was in no way a big hit. The only copy whose whereabouts are known sits on the shelf of the Thai National Library.

Shackled in leg irons, and wearing standard-issue prison pyjamas, Nicolaides pleaded guilty to the charges against him at Bangkok's Criminal Court.

He was quickly found guilty, with a judge telling the court: "He has written a book that slandered the king, the crown prince and Thailand and the monarchy."

The court initially sentenced him to six years in jail, but reduced the term because of his guilty plea.

Before the trial Nicolaides had seemed stunned by what was happening to him, describing it is like a ''bad dream''.

Indeed it does seem like a bad dream. Thailand is known for being a corrupt and primitive country so this is not very surprising. Anti-monarchy sentiment is ripe with people sentenced for 6 years for just giving a speech and 3,000 websites have been blocked.

Recently a Thai police officer said that the BBC's south-east Asia correspondent Jonathan Head insulted King Bhumibol Adulyadej . Anyone can make these claims and its not like you'll get real justice in Thailand. The BBC has rejected this claim.

Jonathan Head does think that as a repentant foreigner, Harry Nicolaides does have a good chance of being pardoned by the king lets hope that is so.

For the record OBB News just wants to say how much it respects King Bhumibol Adulyadej as he must be a very brave man if that undead creature beside him is his wife. No wonder the king never smiles.

Karaoke Killer Uses The John Denver Defense

A gunman in Thailand shot-dead eight neighbours after tiring of their drunken karaoke singing.

Weenus Chumkamnerd, 52, shot the home owner and seven of her guests as they partied at her home in Songkhla Province, South Thailand.

"When I began shooting nobody pleaded for his life because they were all drunk," he said after his arrest.

He said he was so furious with their awful singing that as soon as 'Hungry like the wolf' came on he flipped out.

He was so mad he did not notice he had murdered his own brother-in-law as they all look the same.

"I warned these people about their noisy karaoke parties. I said if they carried on I would go down and shoot them.

I had told them if I couldn’t talk sense into them I would come back and finish them off," he added.

Mr Chumkamnerd, who works as a rubber tapper, was a man of his word which is rare these days and had a short temper due to being named Weenus. He was arrested after going on the run after his killing spree in the town of Hat Yai, near the Malaysian border.

The woman who was hosting the party, Dr Suthathip Thammachart, 36, was the director of a local hospital who was due this month to get an award for her services to medicine.

One of the revellers survived by playing dead, convincing the gunman that he too had been killed.

When he realised he had shot his own brother-in-law, Boontip Desaro, Mr Chumkamnerd said he was filled with remorse as he knew he'd really be in trouble for that.

He got his son to take Boontip to hospital, but he was already dead.

A neighbour said that the karaoke group normally sang Thai pop and Britney Spears songs but one particular western tune could be heard often - John Denver’s ‘Country Roads’.

Country Roads is a hugely popular song in south east Asia and the neighbour said the revellers had been singing it over and over again.

Mr Chumkamnerd is hoping his judge has taste in music and will just let him off with a fine.