Australia Reporter: Croatian Police Are Ridiculous

Australian reporter Ross Coulthart said the way the police are treating the girls who spoke about kidnappings hurt Croatia’s tourism.

DUBROVNIK, CROATIA – Australian reporter Ross Coulthart and his team filmed a documentary in Dubrovnik in an attempt to shed light on what happened to 21-year old backpacker Britt Lapthorne. The show was aired on Australia’s Channel 7. The reporter spoke to three girls who Dubrovnik’s fake police officers allegedly tried to kidnap. Also, composite photographs of the possible perpetrators were shown. 

Coulthart told Croatia’s Vecernji list daily that he had filmed the documentary because there was great interest in the Britt Lapthorne case in Australia. He said he had nothing against Croatians, , but stressed that the way the young women who spoke about the kidnap attempts are being treated was harming Croatian tourism. The young women contacted the reporter through Facebook.

Asked why Britt’s death could not have been accidental, Coulthart said that the post-mortem showed no signs of violence, but also showed the lack of signs of violence. The post-mortem was inconclusive. He also commented on the reaction of the Croatian police after the composite photos were shown.

We find their reaction ridiculous. We showed the composite photos and the police said that the two men are police officers. But they never explained how one and the same police officer was involved in three different incidents with three different women from three continents, the reporter said.

One of the girls was drunk when the fake police officer allegedly tried to kidnap her. Coulthart believes that it is suspicious that the officer was paying for the drinks if he was on duty and after that offered her a ride.