Australian to appeal Thai death sentence for murder

Bangkok: An Australian man sentenced to death in Thailand this week for the murder of a former Hells Angels member found beaten and naked in a shallow grave plans to appeal his conviction.

Wayne Schneider, a 38-year-old Australian, was kidnapped in December 2015 by a gang of masked men from an apartment in Pattaya, an eastern Thai city known for its seedy nightlife and links to organised crime.

His body was found days later after investigators tracked a GPS device in a hired van used to carry out the kidnapping.

Fellow Australian Antonio Bagnato, 28, was convicted by a court in Pattaya on Tuesday and handed down a death sentence, a punishment that remains on the statute books in Thailand but is rarely carried out.

American national Tyler Gerard, 22, was convicted of being involved in the kidnap and given a reduced two-year sentence for cooperating with authorities.

Australia, which opposes the death penalty, said Bagnato now plans to appeal.

“An Australian man has received a death sentence in Thailand on murder charges and he intends to lodge an appeal,” a spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said.

“We continue to provide all appropriate consular assistance to the man and his family,” the statement added.

Schneider’s death once more highlighted the foreign criminal elements that flock to Pattaya, a beachside resort with a pulsating red light district and no shortage of grizzly crimes.

Australian biker gangs and underworld figures have long had a presence in the city.

Regional law enforcement officials say Thailand is often used as place to secure and smuggle methamphetamine and heroin into Australia from the Golden Triangle, one of the world’s largest drug producing regions comprising the porous border regions where China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand meet.