KUALA LUMPUR: An Australian woman was murdered in Thailand's resort town of Phuket on Wednesday evening, police reported. The woman, a mother of two, was reportedly stabbed to death after at least two men attempting to steal her bag stabbed her in the heart. Michelle Smith, a travel agent from Perth, had been walking on the streets of the resort city of Phuket with industry colleagues when a motorcycle with two male riders pulled up, according to Australia's Fairfax media. Smith, 60, reportedly struggled to hold her bag as the back rider tried to snatch it, and received a 3-inch knife wound to the heart. The group of travel agents was in Phuket to inspect a five-star hotel before recommending it to clients, Fairfax wrote. Smith's husband Geoff described his wife in an interview with Australia's ABC News: “Bright, sparkly, hard working, a wonderful mother. Loved her job, been in travel for approximately 40 years,” he said. “[I'm] totally devastated. It's a shock. It's not as if she was traveling on her own. She was with a group of agents all together and just unfortunately plucked out of the crowd.”
