Bikini model who falsely accused a tuk-tuk driver of raping in her in Thailand vows to turn her life around after being found with ice and cocaine in her system when she was giving her MOTHER a lift
A bikini model who falsely accused a tuk-tuk driver of raping her in Thailand was caught with ice and cocaine in her system after giving her mum a lift to the airport.
Stevie Rochelle Franceska Bamford, 28, avoided a conviction for drug driving in Sydney on October 30 last year.
She was stopped by officers after picking her mother up from the airport, Waverley Local Court heard on Wednesday.
When the interior design student handed her licence over to police, they found it was suspended and decided to do a drug test.
According to The Daily Telegraph, officers conducted an oral fluid test for drugs, to which she tested positive for methylamphetamine.
Bamford told police she took the drug the day prior while she was at a party, but further testing also found cocaine in her system.
Ms Bamford, whose father is the former NSW Origin Peter Tunks, was sentenced to an 18-month conditional release order by Magistrate Michael Crompton, who gave her no conviction for the drug-driving charge.
Mr Crompton revoked a good behaviour bond she was placed on last year for assaulting a police officer at a party in Darlinghurst.
Bamford was then re-sentenced to a six-month community corrections order for the assault, where she cannot commit any offences.
Ms Bamford told the Telegraph she planned to turn her life around and was getting counselling for her drug and alcohol use.
‘I’m dealing with my problems and I’m much more mature now and I’m more aware of … the consequences from what partying does to your lifestyle,’ she said.
‘I’ve got rid of all the traumatic people out of my life.
‘I’ve got one good friend and you just need a best friend who’s got your back and that is all you need because Sydney is full of haters.
‘That was a really good outcome, I thought I was going to go to jail. I can go … now and get my licence.’
Ms Bamford was previously charged with assaulting police after officers attended the brawl at the inner-Sydney party on May 20, 2018.
At the time Daily Mail Australia reported that police were called to an address in Hill Street after reports of a brawl, according to a statement of facts tendered to court.
Bamford was hit with capsicum spray after she scratched the neck of a sergeant who had been trying to arrest her boyfriend at a party about 8.20pm.
She spent more than 12 hours in police custody before appearing in Central Local Court the following Monday.
‘Multiple police were restraining a male when the accused approached police and yelled repeatedly,’ the statement said.
‘Police requested multiple times to move away from the area, which she refused to comply with.’
Bamford then pushed past two constables towards her partner, who was being restrained on the ground by Sergeant William Collins.
‘The accused grabbed at Sergeant Collins’s face and scratched the left and right side of his neck in an attempt to pull Sergeant Collins off the male,’ the statement said.
Sergeant Collins then used oleoresin capsicum (OC) spray against Bamford.
Bamford, who was on top of Sergeant Collins, rolled off the officer, was handcuffed and taken to Surry Hills police station where she told officers ‘I just got involved in something that I shouldn’t have.’
Solicitor Paul Cranney told Central Local Court his client was ‘extremely remorseful’ for what he described as ‘an ill-conceived set of events’.
While Bamford pleaded guilty to assaulting the officer she said the scratching was accidental and denied being intoxicated as police had alleged.
Mr Cranney said Bamford had been at the Darlinghurst address for about 20 minutes attending a birthday party when her partner became involved in a fight.
She had believed police were being heavy-handed with her partner.
‘She shouldn’t have been there,’ Mr Cranney said.
Magistrate Robert Williams noted Bamford had been before the courts in 2011 for common assault, after which she had resisted arrest, and low-range drink driving in 2015.
Mr Williams convicted Bamford, imposed an $800 fine and put her on an 18-month good behaviour bond.
‘Thank you,’ Bamford said.
That experience came six years after Bamford made international headlines when she was jailed in Thailand for falsely claiming she had been raped by a tuk-tuk driver in Patong.
Bamford, then 21, was found guilty in Phuket Provincial Court in June 2012 for making the claims and sentenced to 15 days in jail.
The sometime lingerie and bikini model had told Thai police she was raped by a tuk-tuk driver while coming home after a night out with her boyfriend.
She alleged the driver had taken her to a secluded area and raped her while two other males held her down.
After several days of interrogation Bamford admitted she had lied to police because she did not want her boyfriend to be angry at her for returning late to their resort.
Bamford, from Maroubra in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, was allowed to finish her holiday before spending 15 days in the Baan Bang Jo detention centre in Thalang.
A senior Thai police officer said of Bamford’s claims: ‘This sort of thing could damage Phuket’s tourism industry.’ Months after her 2012 arrest in Thailand Bamford claimed Australian consular officials had told her to confess to lying to police about being raped so she would be able to ‘walk away’ from the incident.
However, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said at the time Australian consular officials gave no legal advice to Bamford, or advised her to sign any statement.
