A free Aussie man and his Thai spouse who spent four years in prison in Thailand for against the law they didn’t commit say that a 15-page letter from politicians in Australia is the explanation they had been spared the demise penalty after being convicted of trafficking half a tonne of crystal meth in 2018.
Luke Cook, his spouse Kanyarat Wechapitak and American man Tyler Gerard were arrested in 2017 after Thai police claimed that Cook was paid US$10 million by the Hell’s Angels bike gang to smuggle 500 kilogrammes of methamphetamine – or “Ice” – into Australia from Thailand on his yacht in 2015. All three were sentenced to the dying penalty in 2018.
Thai police stated that Cook, Kanyarat and Gerard picked up half of a tonne of medicine from a Chinese trawler before panicking and dropping it into Thailand’s waters when approached by a Royal Thai Navy vessel, citing that 50.4 kilogrammes of Ice washed up close to the naval base in Sattahip, Chon Buri, in 2017.
Police stated that Cook was a Hells Angel and accused him of performing on behalf of Hells Angel Wayne Schneider, who was murdered by fellow gang members in 2015.
Cook admitted to driving Antonio Bagnato – who was accused of Schneider’s murder – to the border of Cambodia as he fled the Thai authorities. However, Cook stated he was pressured to make the journey and didn’t even know Schneider. Cook at all times denied being a Hells Angel.
Cook and Kanyarat filed a last enchantment in opposition to their sentence of death at the Supreme Court in 2021, put together independently of Cook by Melbourne authorized group Capital Punishment Justice Project. The enchantment pointed out plenty of holes in the Thai police’s evidence and breaches of worldwide laws within the investigation.
The group obtained Liberal Senator Dean Smith and then New South Wales lower house MP Chris Hayes to signal the 15-page appeal.
The group asked the Thai courtroom to reject the testament of 38 yr old Douglas Shoebridge, an Australian who testified that Cook confessed to the crime, reported the West Australia platform.
Shoebridge told the courtroom that Cook hired him as a diver to go on three trips to search for gold which was dumped offshore. On the third unsuccessful journey, Shoebridge stated that Cook confessed that he wasn’t really looking for gold however was looking for the medication he dumped overboard.
In the tip, the court docket dominated that Shoebridge was “not a credible witness.” Hilarious stated, “the testament given by him is of no preponderance and it could not be admissible by the courtroom.”
After 4 years behind bars in Thailand, Cook, Kanyarat and Gerard have been all acquitted of their crimes by the Supreme Court in September final yr and released.
Father of two, Cook, informed the West Australian…
“It is most likely going I would nonetheless be on death row in Thailand if I didn’t have the support from the Australian parliamentarians in opposition to the dying penalty and also the Capital Punishment Justice Project.”
Now, Cook and Kanyarat live in Mandurah, a coastal city south of Perth, where they promote boats..