Fresh details have emerged about the elderly Australian man rescued from near death after he was found sleeping in the hallway of an apartment building in the Thai tourist hotspot of Pattaya.
Geoffrey Chapman, 76, was taken to the Australian Embassy in Bangkok by local police after he was discovered sleeping rough without a mobile phone, ATM cards or his passport.
According to reports, the pensioner was in excruciating pain due to a gaping wound in his abdomen and could no longer walk.
Now, the Daily Mail can reveal the chain of events that left Mr Chapman fighting for his life on the streets of Thailand.
According to a Thai police source, Mr Chapman had jetted into Bangkok on May 5 on a two-month tourist visa, hoping to start a new life in the resort town popular with expats and known for its red-light district.
The man, originally from West Geelong, Victoria, moved into the two-star Chokdee Inn, paying AU$519 a month for a basic room.
However, the source said Mr Chapman fell behind on his rent at the budget hotel after losing his bank card and identification, with management evicting him.
‘He received his Australian pension every two weeks, which was around 38,000 THB (AU$1,645), but he had no way of accessing it, so he was asked to leave,’ the police source revealed.
Geoffrey Chapman, 76, is the Australian pensioner rescued from near death after he was found sleeping in the hallway of an apartment building in the Thai tourist hotspot of Pattaya
The Bangkok Community Help Foundation said the elderly man had been homeless in Pattaya before police took him to the embassy
The 76-year-old had jetted into Bangkok on May 5 on a two-month tourist visa, hoping to start a new life in the resort town popular with expats and notorious for its red-light district
‘This is very common for expats here. Sometimes the ATM machine swallows the card or maybe people have too much to drink and are careless.
‘This is when big problems start.’
But the source warns there is a darker side to the holiday hotspot, where Western tourists have been targeted in violent street muggings and hotel-room robberies.
The Mail understands that victims of these kinds of robberies are sometimes reluctant to reveal exactly what happened to them to police due to personal embarrassment.
It is not suggested this was the case with Mr Chapman.
In May, a 45-year-old Australian man was allegedly stabbed in the chest with scissors and robbed of AU$6,000, while other foreign visitors have reported being beaten, threatened at gunpoint and attacked for their phones and wallets.
To make matters worse, Mr Chapman told police he had fallen in the street around the time he lost his belongings, leaving him with a gaping wound in his abdomen.
‘He said he lost his balance and after that he found it difficult to walk and his health got worse,’ the source said.
Chapman, originally from West Geelong, Victoria, moved into the two-star Chokdee Inn, paying AU$519 a month for a basic room, such as this one
Mr Chapman was found with a gaping wound in his abdomen
‘He was in a very vulnerable position and is lucky to be alive.’
The Mail understands that Mr Chapman is due to fly back to Australia later this week, though little is known about his family on home soil.
On Monday, Pattaya Tourist Police took Mr Chapman to the Australian Embassy and referred his case to the Bangkok Community Help Foundation.
Foundation co-founder Friso Poldervaart said Mr Chapman told the team he wanted to return to Australia as soon as they met him in Bangkok.
‘When we told him we’d do everything we could to help him get home, his eyes lit up. “Love it”, he said.’
The team took Mr Chapman to hospital to have his wound assessed and cleaned, then made up a bed for him in a ground-floor office at its Center of Dreams homeless shelter due to his immobility.
By the next day, social workers had found him a place at a nearby care home, where nurses could monitor his health and dress his wound while the foundation helped him report his passport missing and obtain a fit-to-fly certificate.
‘He can now walk short distances without assistance, including getting to the bathroom and shower,’ Mr Poldervaart said.
‘We’ve also noticed that he’s expressing his thoughts more clearly when we speak with him.’
The foundation also confirmed that they had been in touch with Mr Chapman’s family in Australia, who asked for privacy.
‘He’s excited. Getting back to Australia was the wish he shared with us at our first meeting, and he’s looking forward to making that journey.
‘An important part of our social work team’s role has been to plan for what happens after he lands.’
‘With support from the AW Foundation and The Salvation Army Australia, he’ll have people he can turn to for advice and practical help as he settles back home.’
Mr Poldervaart explained that while the Center of Dreams mostly supported Thai nationals experiencing homelessness, it had repatriated more than 60 foreign nationals who had fallen on hard times.
‘When someone wishes to return home, we can offer temporary shelter and work with their embassy and partners in their home country to arrange a safe return,’ he said.
