A high profile Australian lawyer has been discovered dead just minutes from where cricket legend Shane Warne suffered a fatal heart attack in 2022.
Christopher Saines, the 43-year-old CEO of Brisbane‘s GLG Legal, was found unresponsive at Siam Touch Massage shop, which offers sexual services, on the Thai holiday island of Koh Samui about 6am on Monday.
Emergency services were called to the Bo Phut shop, close to the villa where Warne died, about 7am after workers discovered the lawyer wasn’t breathing.
Initial investigations suggest Mr Saines left his $4,000-a-night hotel, Villa Mia, where he was staying with his wife and children, around midnight and paid 400 baht, AUD$19, for a one-hour traditional oil massage.
His wife, Chantho, is a manager at GLG Legal. It’d believed Mr Saines’ brother also works in a high position at the firm.
Police Lieutenant Colonel Phumaret Inkong of Bo Phut Police Station said officers found a ziplock bag with white powder, suspected to be cocaine, in Mr Saines’ pants pocket.
‘But we can’t confirm it yet, it needs to be sent for lab analysis,’ he said.
‘From initial field testing using police reagents, it’s presumed to be an illegal drug, but we’re not sure if it’s actually cocaine.’
Christopher Saines (pictured), the 43-year-old CEO of Brisbane’s GLG Legal, was found dead at a Thai massage parlour on Monday
Saines (pictured) had been on holiday in Thailand with his wife and two children
Mr Saines spent several hours asleep at the massage parlour (pictured) after receiving a one-hour oil massage
Masseuse Premyupa, 47, told local outlet Thaiger that Mr Saines had arrived at the parlour alone and walking barefoot.
‘After we finished, he said he wanted to lie down and rest. I left him for a while, and when I came back, he was still snoring,’ she said.
‘It wasn’t until much later I realised he wasn’t breathing.’
Premyupa last heard Mr Saines ‘snoring’ around 4am and claimed when she returned later to wake him two hours later, he was cold and unconscious.
Police and medics from Koh Samui Hospital found the lawyer unconscious on a narrow bed inside one of the shop’s private upstairs rooms.
He was lying horizontally across the bed with his legs dangling over its side. No foam was found around his mouth.
Lieutenant Colonel Inkong said police are not treating Mr Saines’ death as suspicious.
‘There were no signs of physical struggle. The masseuse had no injuries either. The massage proceeded normally,’ he said.
Mr Saines was staying at the $4,000-a-night Villa Mia (pictured) with his wife and children
Siam Touch Massage (pictured), which offers sexual services, called emergency services after a masseuse found Mr Saines cold and unconscious
Mr Saines was found deceased in a private upstairs room (pictured, one of the private rooms at the parlour)
‘Right now we are waiting for the results of the drug test and the autopsy report, which may take several days depending on the case, but we will try to expedite it as quickly as possible.’
While there were no CCTV cameras inside the massage parlour, police found footage outside the shop which showed Mr Saines alone and carrying a can of beer.
Mr Saines’ wife was informed of his death at 3pm on Tuesday.
Authorities’ initial inquiries indicate he died of heart failure – similarly to Warne.
Mr Saines’ body was taken to Surat Thani Hospital for post-mortem examination.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
