The parents of an Australian man who Phuket police say was in a motorbike accident believe he did not crash but was beaten and left for dead.

Muay Thai fighter Daniel Ketley, 21, suffered life-threatening injuries and needed 45 stitches in his head after an incident near Soi Saiyuan in Naiharn in the early hours of June 8, 2012.

His story has emerged following reports an Australian woman was stabbed to death on the Thai holiday island last night.

Mr Ketley, who was raised on the Gold Coast and now lives in Phuket with his parents, left a friend's house and was heading to another friend's house when he was allegedly attacked.

His last memory is seeing a petrol station in the Soi Saiyuan area and thinks he may have been assaulted while stopping for fuel.

Local police are treating Mr Ketley as a motorbike crash victim despite his family, friends and family doctor disputing the claims.

His father believe he was savagely beaten, robbed of his wallet and phone and left for dead.

Mr Ketley was picked up by an ambulance at 2am and was admitted to hospital sober, with no grazes, a fractured skull and haemorrhaging and compression on the brain.

He also had a shattered eye socket, a broken jaw, four lost teeth, a fractured vertebra, nerve damage to his neck and shoulder and a fracture in the skull between his nose and upper lip.

His parents were phoned at 8am the next morning and were told he had been in a bike accident yet his clothes were not dirty or ripped and his bike had no scrapes although it was damaged at the front and the rear mirrors were smashed.

Police say they cannot investigate any further until Mr Ketley regains his memory of the night but the fighter is sure he did not crash his bike.

"I know I can't have crashed. I know the roads very well, and the damage to my body … if I had crashed I would have put my hands down for sure but they aren't grazed," said Mr Ketley.

Mr Ketley has lived in Phuket for three years and is a full-time Muay Thai boxer. His mother has speculated he may have been targeted because he is a high-profile fighter.

The Ketleys have launched a Facebook page to try and raise money to help pay for Mr Ketley's care. They are also campaigning about the dangers of riding alone at night in Phuket.

Mr Ketley has been fitted with a plate in his right cheek and jaw and has no feeling in his right arm.

He is currently being looked after at his parents' home in Phuket and has regular check-ups by doctors.

Last night, a female travel agent from Perth died after being stabbed in the heart by two men who drove past on a motorbike and tried to steal her bag.

The killers left empty-handed and the woman, who was walking with a group of 10 travel agents, did not realise she had been stabbed until the men drove away.

Another woman was also slashed on the arm and she later recounted events to police.

Police are hunting for the two men who attacked her.

Two men arrested in Phuket for murder

Two men have been arrested in Thailand over the stabbing murder of Australian travel agent Michelle Smith on the holiday island of Phuket last week, according to reports.

The men are being questioned over the murder of Mrs Smith, 60, who was stabbed in the heart in a suspected botched bag snatch on Phuket's west coast.

The two men in custody in Chumphon province, in southern Thailand, and are expected to be returned to Phuket later today.

Phuket governor Tri Augkaradacha announced the arrests today during a meeting with local officials and tourism industry representatives to discuss tourist safety issues in Phuket.

Local police are expected to release further details about the identity of the two men and how police tracked them down at a press conference later today.

Mrs Smith, from Butler in Perth's northern suburbs, was part of a group of 10 Perth travel agents who arrived in Phuket a week ago to review new tourist sites.

The mother-of-two had been out to dinner with a travel agent colleague, Tammee Lynn, 42, before the pair decided to walk back to to the five-star Katathani Phuket Beach Resort where they were staying in Kata Noi Bay.

They were attacked by two men who approached them on a motorcycle about 10.30pm.

The men attempted to grab Mrs Smith's bag before stabbing her in the chest, piercing her lung and heart. As they tried to escape they also slashed Ms Lynn's arm.

At first the shocked women attempted to walk back to the hotel before Mrs Smith collapsed. She died on the street.

Crowd fury as Thai suspects re-enact murder

Thai suspect Surasak Suwannachot, 26, holds a mock knife during a police
re-enactment in Phuket of the attempted robbery that killed Michelle Smith.





An angry crowd of Australian and other foreign tourists, along with Thai locals, had to be held back from attacking two Thai men accused of murdering 60-year-old Perth mother-of-three Michelle Smith.

The two men, Surasak "Boy" Suwannachot, 26, and alleged accomplice Surin Taptong, 34, had been brought to the upmarket Kata Noi Beach where Mrs Smith was murdered to re-enact the brutal killing under police direction.

When she was attacked, Mrs Smith had been returning to the Katathani Phuket Beach Resort after dinner with companion Tammee Lynn, 42. Both were in Thailand with a group of Perth travel agents.

At the exact location yesterday, Surasak, who Thai authorities say admits the stabbing during an attempted bag-snatch, was given a wooden replica of a 10-centimetre knife.

One Australian had to be restrained by Thai police from one of the accused men.

"I was just so angry," Tony Clarke, 52, a tall, strongly built man, told Fairfax Media at the scene yesterday where Mrs Smith was stabbed through the heart last Wednesday.

"Most Thais are beautiful people, but you also have a bad element."

As other tourists, including many from Australia, swam in rolling surf nearby, Mr Clarke and his partner, Deborah Lewis, 50, were in no mood to relax.

Instead, they watched in fury as the two men under police direction re-enacted the killing.

Surasak got off the back of the purple motorcycle Surin Taptong was controlling and stabbed Mrs Smith when she resisted having her handbag taken.

Ms Lynn was slashed and required stitches.

Two young Thai women yesterday played the parts of the victims as an angry crowd looked on.

As a sign of the seriousness with which Thailand regards this latest case, there has been direct involvement by the country's Prime Minister, Yingluck Shinawatra. And the Commissioner General of the Royal Thai Police came to Phuket from Bangkok in the wake of the arrests of Surasak and Surin. They were both arrested on Monday on the mainland after fleeing Phuket.

Mr Clarke said of Mrs Smith: "She was the life and soul of the party. She would have fought. I was so close to hitting him [Surasak] because of what he did to her. I was going to punch him in the head."

"The Thai people here are mostly so good. I have a friend, Bob, whose mother was a best friend of Michelle Smith. They knew each other since their youth. I was moving to belt him [accused murderer Surasak] but the police held me back. I really wanted to punch him. The local people were with me and other Australians here. They were saying, 'Get him, get him'."

Another Australian, Philip Ennis, a surveyor from Sutherland in Sydney, clenched his right fist and said he was infuriated by the way the two accused men looked "so calm" when re-enacting the murder.

Local websites have reported claims that the two accused told investigators they sought to snatch Mrs Smith's bag in a bid to obtain at least 300 baht - nearly $10 - to pay a bill at a nearby bar.

Mr. Clarke said Australians and other foreigners he had spoken to on Phuket were taking extra precautions, such as carrying the purses of female family members and "sort of keeping guard".

Australian consular officials have been discussing with Thai police and government representatives measures to beef up security on Phuket, the holiday island in Andaman Sea which has more than 700,000 visitors a year.

I saw that on the news the other day.Man that's crazy