A man whose son died in Thailand after a brutal assault is suing a travel insurance company, alleging pressure from the insurer for the man to return to Australia contributed to his death.
Rory McDonald of Adelaide has previously focused on helping police track down the men who attacked his 28-year-old son, Andrew Oake. That campaign culminated in the arrest of the final suspect this year.
Oake was attacked in March 2010 while on his way home with his pregnant wife, Nareerat Swengdee, on a motorcycle in Surin province. Three young men became angry after being cut off and attacked Oake with a machete as he tried to protect his wife from harm. Oake suffered brain damage and died the following month.
Two of the suspects surrendered following pressure from relatives but the third remained at large for six years until he was captured in Nakhon Sawan in October.
Oake died on April 11, 2010 as he prepared to return to Australia after the travel insurer Cover-More threatened to cancel his policy unless he was "on board the next available flight", Mr McDonald told Australian Associated Press.
Anthony Kerin, a principal with the law firm Maurice Blackburn, which is representing the family, said the issue was whether Mr Oake's death "was preventable and what factors may have unnecessarily contributed to this".
Oake suffered severe lacerations to his arm and deep cuts to his head as he fended off his attackers. Initially admitted to Bumrungrad International Hospital in Bangkok, Oake was transferred to Bangkok Hospital Pattaya. Mr McDonald said Cover-More then insisted his son return to Australia for further treatment.
Cover-More, he told Australian media, insisted his son "be on the next commercial airline that we can arrange for him back to Australia (or) we're going to cancel his insurance policy".
"[Cover-More] said when Andrew gets back to Australia we'll look after him, we think he's better off because of the infection and we don't think [Thai doctors] can do the operation," he said.
Cover-More's demand, he said, meant Oake was forced to travel 18 hours by bus over the weekend to his wife's home in Surin to collect his passport and return to Bangkok by Monday morning. He died during the journey back to Surin.
McDonald said a post-mortem showed his son faced little chance of surviving the flight to Australia due to severe swelling of the brain. He said medical staff at Bangkok Hospital Pattaya told him they were well equipped to continue his son's treatment.