Big Joke to fly to England to interview teen who claimed rape on Koh Tao

The deputy commissioner of the Thai Tourist Police has revealed that he is set to fly to England to interview the 19 year old who claims she was raped on the controversial island of Koh Tao.

Maj-Gen Surachate Hakpan – known in the Thai media as Big Joke – told INN that he has made representations to the British Embassy and will go to England soon. 

The alleged victim – who Thaivisa understands to be Isabel Baxter or Issy from South London – has spoken to three UK newspapers alleging she was drugged and raped in June. She claims police refused to take her report on Koh Pangan only reporting a theft.

INN reported that the British Embassy in Bangkok are concerned about the motives of the teen after she went to the media but did not contact them.

Where a meeting will take place is yet to be decided as the Thai police work in conjunction with the embassy. 

INN said they understood that the metropolitan police in London are involved in the case though there has been no contact regarding DNA allegedly on a t-shirt. 

Maj-Gen Surachate, who found no evidence of a rape having occurred on a recent trip to the island in Surat Thani province, reiterated that should the accusations prove to be false the Thai authorities would seek the prosecution of the teen.

He again said that the administrators of the online group “CSI LA” and The Samui Times are to be prosecuted but that more time is needed to finalize matters. 

The owner of the CSI LA site is thought to be a Thai person with US nationality and the editor of the Samui Times has been reported as being a British woman. Neither has been reported as being in custody. 

Jordan Edwards was known for his smile. 

After the teen’s death, one of his teachers set a motto for the Mesquite High School classroom: “Smile like Jordan.” 

Students refused to sit at Jordan’s desk. His football locker was transformed into a shrine. 

“Everyone knew him from smiling. He gets that from me,” his father, Odell Edwards, said Tuesday, smiling.

It was the father’s testimony that brought many of the jurors to tears after they had convicted former Balch Springs police officer Roy Oliver in the 15-year-old’s murder.

Oliver, 38, was found not guilty, however, on two counts of aggravated assault for firing his rifle into the car full of teens.

He faces up to life in prison when testimony resumes Wednesday.

Odell Edwards said he blames himself for his son’s death; he was the one who let the teen go to a party the night of April 29, 2017. 

Jordan, his brothers Kevon Edwards and Vidal Allen, and two friends rode together in Odell Edwards’ Chevrolet Impala to the Balch Springs house party. 

“I blame myself a lot because I shouldn’t have let them go to the party,” Odell Edwards said, voice cracking. 

Several jurors wiped their eyes while the elder Edwards spoke. One put her head down. 

“It’s just not the same without Jordan around,” he said. 

He described what it was like to get a phone call from Allen, who was driving when Oliver fired into the car full of teenagers as they left the party. 

“Dad, Jordan’s been shot,” Edwards recalled Allen say. 

Edwards told his son to stop the car and “do whatever the police say.” Then the call went silent. 

“I just hopped in my truck. I drove all over Mesquite looking for my sons,” he said. 

Jordan’s mother, Charmaine Edwards, also blames herself, because she wasn’t home that night to be the strict parent and tell the boys they couldn’t go. 

She said that Allen also feels at fault. Jordan had asked to drive them home and if he been in the driver’s seat and not the passenger, he would be alive, Allen told his mother. 

The brothers were inseparable, the family said. 

The pair sold candy at their high school for spending money. And after the slaying, Allen changed his football jersey to No. 11, which had been Jordan’s.

“That was my baby brother. We did everything together,” Allen testified earlier in the trial. “We always had each other’s back, no matter what.”

Much of the punishment phase of the trial Tuesday focused on life before Jordan’s murder.  

Six high school teachers and the Mesquite High School football coach raved about the teen. Most said a variation of the same thing: They wanted a classroom full of Jordans. 

“You wish you had 31 of those kids like Jordan in that class,” said Robert Howig, Jordan’s computer teacher. 

“I would love to have a classroom of Jordans,” said algebra teacher Anna Lee Polk.

“I would be happy with a whole class of him,” said Jenna Williams, an English teacher. 

The teachers recounted the sorrow classmates felt after Jordan’s death and their own dismay about the way he died. 

“That’s not what we expected for his life, not what we’d expect for a kid like that,” said Alli Clements, his Spanish teacher. 

Football coach Jeff Fleener also testified Tuesday, but before he did, he gathered his team in the film room just after the guilty verdict was announced. 

The coach’s message was clear: “Praise God. Justice for Jordan.”

“It’s been weighing heavy on these kids,” Fleener said. “With the trial, all those same feelings and emotions came back up. It was tense yesterday afternoon and this morning, being worried about what the verdict might be.”

When they heard the verdict, the players erupted with emotions.

“Tears, hugging and some joy, too,” Fleener said. “I think for these young people, the only other things they’ve been able to compare it to, all the other trials that were like this, they haven’t gone this way.”

Fleener left after his team talk for the courthouse.

On the stand, he described meeting Jordan. Normally, it takes Fleener awhile to learn everyone’s names, but Jordan stood out, he said. 

The teen stayed after practice to work out and when the coach walked into the workout room, Jordan hopped up, held out his hand and introduced himself. 

Jordan “flashed that smile,” Fleener said. “He had that big of an impact on me, on the team and everybody who knew him.” 

Staff writer Corbett Smith contributed to this report.