BANGKOK: The Czech father kicked off the streets of Patong for busking and begging with his young family by Phuket police back in January has reappeared in Bangkok – busking and begging with his kids again.

Facebook user Ben Wood spotted a man who he thought looked like Lukas Matena around 9pm on Monday night at Victory Monument setting up to busk with three young children joining him on the busy footpath. He snapped a photo and shared it on a popular Bangkok FB group with other members agreeing it looked very much like the Czech man back to his old tricks.

Mr Wood also added that the busker had a sign up saying “no photos” – no doubt to avoid publicity as Mr Matena is fully aware from his time in Phuket that it is illegal for him to be singing on the streets of Thailand for money.

Another member of the group, Prem Gill, later confirmed it was indeed the same family saying she spoke to the father, who was playing a guitar and singing while begging, telling her that he was from the Czech Republic. Ms Gill shared the photo below adding the baby girl was crying whilst the young boy in the photo was playing with some papers.

The family of busking beggars first came to the attention of Stickboy Bangkok when photos of a man and two young children singing and playing guitar on the streets of Patong with handwritten signs in English and Thai asking for help appeared on Reddit in mid January.

Within 36 hours of the story going viral Phuket Immigration Police told Mr Matena he had to stop singing for donations as it is illegal and that he should seek assistance from his embassy if he is in financial difficulty.

In an interview at the time Mr Matena said he was trying to raise money by busking after his six-year-old daughter Rebeka had been hit by a car at Chalong temple and the family were in need of funds to extend their stay as they had to wait until after a second operation to asses the health of the young girl before plans to travel home could be made.

Exactly what has happened over the course of the past two months is unknown but the situation raises several questions: Why is he now begging in Bangkok with three young children? Why did the father and healthy children not return home to work and school leaving behind his wife Klara to care for their sick daughter? Do they have valid visas? Having arrived in Thailand in December spending time in Krabi before heading to Phuket on January 4th, Matena said in his newspaper interview he’d extended the families visas for 30 days on “Friday” which would likely be January 9th. Depending on the type of visas the family have they could possibly be on overstay.

No doubt when this gets picked up and circulated some of those questions may be answered.





