American tourist stabbed to death in Thailand following karaoke dispute

Man fatally wounded with an iron rod after argument with house band

An American tourist was allegedly stabbed to death by musicians in a karaoke bar in Thailand following a dispute over the song he was singing.

Bobby Ray Carter was reportedly visiting the Ao Nang beach tourist spot Little Longhorn Saloon and became angry when the band began to play ‘Hotel California’ by The Eagles rather than the song he was expecting to sing. The row then escalated to the point that Carter was stabbed, dying on his way to the hospital. Witnesses said Carter got angry when the band played ‘Hotel California’ instead of the song he requested and he refused to step down.”

Assosciated Press report Krabi city police chief Colonel Taksin Pochakorn as saying, “When the musicians decided to take a break, Carter stayed on the stage, singing and arguing with the band alongside his son.” It is then reported that Carter demanded the money he had given the band back and that a fight broke out outside the pub. The man was stabbed twice, once in the chest with an iron rod. Police subsequently arrested the musicians and charged them with assault and “causing death by physical attack”. One was also charged with possession of an illegal firearm.

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Ratikorn Romin, a member of the Little Longhorn Saloon band, told Thailand’s Phuket Gazette that he stabbed Carter in self-defense. “We accept that we attacked them, but we didn’t intend to kill anyone. The father and son came to the pub and they joined us singing on the stage,” he told police. “Then we had an argument with them because they refused to stop singing when the time was up. The father knocked our tip-box to the floor. We left the stage and sat [outside] in front of the bar. After a while they came outside and started another argument with us. The father knocked me to the ground first, and I could not breathe because he was sitting on my chest. Then I spotted a sharp piece of metal nearby, so I grabbed it and stabbed him.”

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