Belgian was facing arrest and deportation from Thailand after having stayed in the kingdom for over 9o days beyond the expiry of his visa. Police found a notification to that effect from the Phuket Immigration Bureau on the body of the Belgian lying at the popular shooting range.
A 52-year-old Belgian national, facing arrest by Immigration authorities in Phuket, killed himself on Tuesday when he went to a firing range and used a handgun at the facility to shoot himself in the forehead. Police found a notice from Immigration officers warning him that he had overstayed his visa in the kingdom by 90 days.
Police in Phuket are investigating the death of a Belgian man on Tuesday afternoon last in what appears to have been a suicide.
The 52-year-old, identified by his passport as Mr Christian Richard Cerfontaine, was found lying on the ground of a popular shooting range by a police and paramedics force which responded to an incident reported to Chalong Police Station at 2.40 pm.
Belgian arrived on a white off-road mountain bike and used the handgun at the firing range to shoot himself in the forehead, found lying on his back
The response team included officers from the Phuket Provincial Forensic Police and was led by Police Colonel Ekarat Plaidung, the Superintendent of Chalong Police Station.
Reports suggest that the European man had arrived at the shooting range on a white motorbike understood to be an off-road vehicle type or mountain bike, shortly beforehand.
He paid for time at the firing range including the hire of a handgun which he used to shoot himself in the forehead.
Staff at the facility, hearing the shot, found him lying on his back in a pool of blood. He had been standing where shooters normally fire at targets in the distance of the cavernous facility from a raised platform.
Man who lived in a rented property in Phuket was facing arrest and deportation from Thailand after receiving a 90 day overstay notice from police
Police examining his body learned that he was living in a rented house nearby in Phuket.
Documents found on the deceased Belgian included a driving licence and a notification from the Phuket Immigration Office informing the man that he had overstayed his visa by 90 days in Thailand.
This put Mr Cerfontaine in imminent danger of being detained by police authorities both in Phuket and across the kingdom because of Immigration Bureau data systems.
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He then faced being held in an Immigration Bureau detention facility and facing deportation provided he was in a position to pay for his flight home at full rates quoted by airlines since the Immigration Bureau does not accept airline tickets booked through discount services.
Faced overstay fines and a criminal penalty
In most cases, a foreign national detained under such circumstances faces weeks if not months being held in an overcrowded detention centre.
The Belgian would also have faced a one-year ban from re-entering Thailand as well as an overstay daily fine limited to ฿20,000 in addition to a criminal penalty of ฿20,000.
Police, on Tuesday, said that they were seeking CCTV footage from within the shooting range premises and in its precincts.
The range is the Sai Yuan Ra shooting complex located in the Rawai subdistrict in the centre of Phuket.
The body of Mr Cerfontaine was removed to Vachira Phuket Hospital where an autopsy was ordered.
Police, however, made it clear that they did not believe there was a third party involved in the case and it was nearly certain it was a case of suicide by gunshot.
Third foreign national to suicide in Phuket in the last two weeks along with a Russian and Belarussian
This was the third suicide of a foreign national recorded in Phuket, the popular resort island in the Andaman Sea for holidaymakers and foreign nationals, in just two weeks.
On Monday, May 29th, a Russian national was found dead at the bottom of a beachfront hotel in Karon.
The deceased man was identified as 43-year-old Yuri Alekseenko from Moscow.
Police, briefing the media, said the man was known to have a drinking problem and family issues which weighed him down.
Last Sunday, again in the Karon area of Phuket, a Belarusian national was found hanged in rented accommodation. The man was also reported to have suffered from mental issues, in this case, depression.
He was identified as 26-year-old Alexander Zapronenko.
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