Exclusive: How much the Day brothers paid Thai cop after holiday robbery and four terrifying months in prison

The Day brothers released a statement Herald confirm they paid the police officer $74,000 each, but deny the contents of the verdict, saying they pleaded guilty because Mattson Day’s health was deteriorating – potentially fatally – in prison.

Hamish and Mattson Day were holidaying in Phuket, Thailand, when a roadside altercation with a policeman led to almost four months in custody.

The extraordinary video, which went viral around the world, showed Mattson Day grappling with Senior Police Sergeant Somsak Nueaid on the ground by the side of the road, while Hamish Day looked on, holding the officer’s gun.

Their families were prepared to spend years in prison, and Hamish Day’s wife, Rebecca, will talk about it Herald while in custody:

“What will our son do? Boys need a dad. There will be certain things where I will do my best, but I can’t replace his dad, even though I will do my best.

“I just want to take him home. And I just want Jake to have a daddy again.

The Day brothers went to Thailand on a sibling trip to catch up after getting married and starting their own families. They planned to surf, visit cable cars and seek treatment for old sports injuries at one of Phuket’s private hospitals.

A week after the trip and just an hour after they called home to talk to their children, the men were arrested.

Details regarding the Day brothers’ return to New Zealand have not been known so far, including: Herald obtaining a court judgment and having it translated by a sworn translator.

The king’s judgment

The judgment, titled “In the Name of His Majesty the King,” was delivered by judges Sakchai Yodsri and Kriengsak Rodphunchu.

It recounts the events leading up to the couple’s arrest, which he claims the Day brothers “confessed to.”

Somsak Nueaid, nicknamed “the victim”, was found to be “performing his duties… searching for criminals” at a five-way traffic checkpoint at Chalong intersection in Phuket’s Mueang Phuket district.

The Day brothers approached the checkpoint on separate motorcycles when Somsak Nueaid began waving at them to “stop their motorcycles for inspection,” it said.

The verdict said the men “revved their engines and drove out of the checkpoint at high speed on both motorcycles”, avoiding the officer.

“This action violated traffic lights,” he said.

When an officer caught up with the Day brothers to arrest them, the ruling said they “resisted with violence.”

“The accused struggled with the victim and did not consent to the inspection. As a result of the incident, the injured party suffered injuries to the fingers of his left hand, left knee and neck. The injuries were severe and accompanied by significant pain and he was (un)able to perform normal activities for over 20 days.

At that point, the verdict said the Day brothers “collectively bribed the victim by offering their property to influence him not to arrest them, which was an unlawful act.”

It said the bribe was rejected.

It is worth noting that the verdict does not refer to the senior sergeant’s pistol.

It said the men were found guilty of obstructing an officer in the performance of his duty “by using brutal force” and “assaulting an officer in the performance of his duties, causing serious injury.”

The latter brought the harshest penalty, which included a maximum of four years in prison and a fine of 40,000 baht ($1,976).

The charge of trying to bribe an officer to distract him from his duties carried a maximum penalty of two years in prison and a fine, also of 40,000 baht ($1,976).

The $148,000 in damages was almost 20 times the $7,904 in fines they were ordered to pay.

Confession of the brothers

“Both defendants confessed, which was beneficial to the investigation. For this, the penalty will be reduced by half,” we read in the judgment.

The verdict said the victim made a full recovery and the Day brothers spent almost four months in custody and “paid the victim compensation of 3,000,000 baht, with which he is satisfied and does not want to file a civil lawsuit.”

“The victim asked the court to punish her with a lighter criminal penalty.”

The three-year prison sentence was subsequently suspended for two years without a suspension order being made.

Police have previously reported that the men are now banned from traveling to Thailand.

The Herald understands that Matt Blomfield, an Auckland consultant and problem solver, has been at the center of efforts to bring the men home.

Over the decade, Blomfield has developed a business offering business, legal and crisis management support.

In a statement issued through Blomfield, Hamish and Mattson Day said the court’s ruling was false.

“We respectfully but firmly deny the account of events presented in the court’s judgment because it does not reflect what actually occurred.

“As expected, prison conditions were extremely difficult, characterized by severe overcrowding, malnutrition, rampant disease, the presence of large gangs and death.”

The statement said the brothers “were determined” to defend the allegations “as we knew they were false,” but pleaded guilty out of fear for Mattson Day’s life after his health deteriorated in prison.

They said that at this stage the prosecutor’s office had withdrawn “most and most serious charges”.

“We paid the police officer approximately $74,000 each. Then we could go home.

“When we returned home, Oscar (Mattson) was diagnosed with severe TB which caused his lungs to collapse and required him to go urgently to the intensive care unit at Waikato Hospital where liters of fluid were removed from his lungs.

“If Oscar (Mattson) had stayed in prison, he most likely would have died.”

Thai concerns about the tourism industry

Australian National University associate professor Nick Cheesman said the judgment appeared to reflect a 2005 change in the law that allowed “injured parties” to “claim compensation from the accused” in certain cases.

“However, one effect, intended or not, is that it allows wealthy and powerful people to escape or have their prison sentences reduced by having victims accept compensation.

“That’s one of the factors in this case. And secondly, the men were tourists.

Cheesman said Thai authorities are “highly alert to any reputational damage that could impact the massive and profitable tourism industry.”

Political and financial connections of the Day family

Laurence and Katrina Day are pillars of the Waikato business community with an extensive multi-million dollar real estate empire. Their portfolio included approximately 60 commercial and residential properties, most of them jointly owned, with some jointly owned by others.

The couple are devout Christians and donated $1,325,000 to Colin Craig’s Conservative Party in 2013 and 2014. The donation was made shortly after Laurence Day made $10 million from the sale of a private training organization.

He told Stuff at the time: “I think to myself, ‘I can leave this money to my kids and it will probably destroy them,’ like winning the Lotto.”

“Or I can do something for everyone else’s children in this country, and that is leave them a more democratic New Zealand.”

He served as party chairman and later he stood as a candidate in the Napier electorate.

David Fisher lives in Northland and has worked as a journalist for over 30 years, winning numerous journalism awards, including twice being named Reporter of the Year and being selected as one of a small number of Wolfson Press Fellows at Wolfson College, Cambridge. He first joined the Herald in 2004.

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