May 22 2004

Mother seeks justice for murdered son

A Canadian mother is seeking justice for her son who was murdered in Pattaya 15 years ago.

His killers are known but they've never been brought to trial.

The Nation's Phil Macdonald takes up the story.

Joe Gaal, a 29 year-old Canadian photojournalist, was brutally murdered in Pattaya in April 1989. At the time he was staying at the Ocean View Hotel, owned by Wolfgang Urlich and his partner, Lothar Kroehn.

Urlich, who was once described by a prominent Thai politician as the worst foreign criminal living in Thailand, was extradited from Thailand to Germany a few years ago.

Kroehn's years of involvement in mafia activities in Pattaya lead him to be declared persona non grata by the Thai government. He now lives in the Malaysia, from where German Interpol is seeking his extradition.

At the time of his death, Gaal was covering the Afghan-Soviet War. He had come across a story and started asking questions certain people did not want asked - especially those involved in the drugs trade in the city.

Through a middleman, possibly Kroehn, a hit was organised. Gaal was lured to his death by a treacherous girlfriend.

Mid-ranking Pattaya police officers were also involved.

Photographs obtained by his mother, Arlene Gaal, show Joe suffered terribly before his death. He was severely beaten. His skull was fractured and his tongue was cut out.

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After the beating, he was drowned in a toilet bowl and his body dumped in a swimming pool at the Ocean View Hotel.

In an odious cover up (even by Thai police standards), the coroner ruled that Joe Gaal had accidentally drowned.

For 15 years, his mother Arlene has shown remarkable courage, persistence and resolution in her fight to bring about justice. She is fighting for something she should not have to fight for.

Gaal's murderers are known.

Any justice system with a semblance of decency would have locked up the killers of Joe Gaal 15 years ago.

What follows is a letter from Arlene Gaal detailing the events surrounding her son's murder.

Dear sir,

Fifteen years ago in the early hours of April 30, 1989, Joe Gaal, a 29-year-old Canadian photojournalist was murdered while a guest at Ocean View Hotel in Pattaya. Joe was taking a break from the ravages of the Soviet-Afghan War, and intended to return to his home base in Peshawar, Pakistan.

Joe was working on a story, he asked many questions of drug, mafia persons in Pattaya, and as a result lost his life, not on the battlefield of Afghanistan where he had been stationed as a journalist but instead as a guest in [Pattaya].

Asking questions of the wrong people about the wrong subject cost him his life. He was lured away by a Thai girl, befriended by two Pattaya police officers and assassinated by a hired hit man.

Joe Gaal was murdered early in the morning of April 30 in a hotel room in the presence of two Pattaya Police officers, a girl and a hired assassin. He had been severely beaten.

A taxi driver, whose name I believe was Noom, drove Joey to his death and later helped return the body to Ocean View Hotel.

Sintan Wanlop knows what happened as does former Pattaya Police Captain Cherchai Karnslip, Police Captain Prabhas Maunpew, and Lt-Colonel Parait Supasawat who stated that Joey was a victim of gangs.

Joe's murder was made to look like an accidental drowning, and the Thai autopsy report stated: "No wounds or injuries of any kind on the body." [This] was later proven false by the discovery photos obtained by our family.

Joey was severely beaten, with massive bruising to his face, mid forehead skull fracture, lacerations and dried blood which should have washed off had he died in the pool.

There are persons in Pattaya and other areas who know what happened to Joe Gaal and are fully aware of why his life came to an abrupt end. Hopefully they will have the courage to come forward and help provide the needed closure for our family here in Canada.

For those who believe too much time has lapsed for justice to be served, here in Canada a 30-year-old murder case was solved just three months ago and an individual was charged with second-degree murder. There is no statute of limitations on murder, and as this case is not closed, time has no bearing on all the evidence uncovered.

If you have any information pertaining to the murder of Joe Gaal, a guest at Ocean View Hotel, your statements would remain confidential and if it leads to an arrest and conviction a reward in US dollars is still standing. Please contact me. Remember: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing ..."

Sincerely,

Arlene Gaal (a mother seeking justice).

E-mail: gaala1035@aol.com, tel/fax: 2-250 765 9960.

Address: Arlene Gaal, 1035 Neptune Road, Kelowna, BC, Canada. V1X3E4.

Perhaps a Mango Sauce reader can provide Arlene Gaal with the information she needs.

[Posted to News by David]

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Readers' comments

mr peter says:

Seems like she already knows why he was done to death and the names af many involved. All that's left to discover are the manes of the hit men. Even if she had all the names though how would she get the police to take any action? offer them a bribe maybe but difficult to get anyone to move when they are implicated themselves. As we know if you have the right connections you can gun someone down in public and get away with it. I don't see much hope in the lady getting anywhere, sad story.-peter

May 22, 2004 5:13 PM

Lol says:

This may sound heartless, but like the Stephen Lawrence case in the Uk, and the Julie Ward case in Kenya these parents really should let it go. Shit happens, and they cannot get on with their lives until the past is put behind them.

This guy put himself into a dangerous position and whilst as a parent I sympathise, if 100 people go to jail for his death he will not be coming back.

May 24, 2004 9:27 AM

Billy P says:

A strange attitude LOL and it definitely is heartless.

But you know where to go to get somebody bumped off. As long as the killers are still free just take your wife who is past her sell by date or an obnoxious friend to the Land of Smiles.

Come back alone with a LOS smile on your face.

Maybe that's what you would like.

May 24, 2004 2:01 PM