Koh Tao Murders

[bust]

Yes I read that as well. Let's face it if the court allows a biased trial you can understand how the brother is happy.

 

Still believe they are innocent. Thai cockroaches at their best.

[bust]

It seem the Burmese aren't real happy...... interesting times ahead I feel.

 

[Guest]

" Still believe they are innocent. < removed as an unjustified and unnecessary comment > "

 

Ummmm I really don't know, but the case rested with DNA evidence, collected from cigarette butts, a condom and the bodies of the victims, which linked the two men to the killings. Just because you believe they look or are innocent, does not mean it's not true ... Difficult, but hard to go against DNA evidence found on the both bodies. The defence which is their job would do their best to discredit this evidence as unreliable in some way ..

[bust]

I really don't think I am alone with this one.

 

Thai Murders: DNA 'Does Not Match' Defendants

The trial of the men accused of killing two British backpackers hears DNA on the murder weapon does not match the suspects.

 

 

A forensics expert says DNA found on the garden hoe allegedly used to kill two British backpackers in Thailand does not match the suspects.

The bodies of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller were found on a beach on the holiday island of Koh Tao last September.

Miss Witheridge, 23, from Norfolk, had been raped and beaten. Mr Miller, 24, from Jersey, drowned in the sea after being clubbed around the head.

 

Zaw Lin ® and fellow defendant Wei Phyo

Burmese bar workers Zaw Lin and Wei Phyo, both 22, have pleaded not guilty and claim police threatened to kill them.

The head of Thailand's central forensics institute told the trial that two profiles were found on the hoe - one a full sample, the other a partial sample - but neither matched the defendants.

 

 

 

• 
  

The DNA analysis was ordered by the defence after police failed to do their own tests. Police had said they examined the hoe with a microscope and were confident there were no samples on it.

Police also treated the murder scene haphazardly, Dr Porntip Rojanasunand told the trial on the island of Koh Samui.

Blood spatters were not tested for instance, at least one of the bodies was moved - potentially destroying evidence, and not enough photos were taken to allow for a proper analysis of the scene.

Prosecutors claim other DNA - found on Miss Witheridge's body - does match the defendants.

"You've have this pretty extraordinary situation going on in court today where the head of Thailand's forensics institute is effectively contradicting the case of the Royal Thai Police, " said Sky News Asia Correspondent Katie Stallard.

The trial has previously heard claims the pair were beaten naked by police, suffocated with plastic bags and threatened with being killed and dumped at sea.

Both defendants say they eventually confessed after being told they would only go to prison for four or five years.

However a Thai solicitor who sat in on their interrogation previously told the trial that the pair freely admitted the killings.

[Guest]

" The trial of the men accused of killing two British backpackers hears DNA on the murder weapon does not match the suspects. "

 

Yes, But how do you explain the DNA evidence collected from the bodies and was not the girl raped and DNA found of the men.

I just do not know, but rape in which the victim dies carries death as punishment in Thailand and the DNA places them at the scene .... As regards the murder weapon a third person involved who they cannot mention as they cannot admit they were even there..

[Guest]

" However a Thai solicitor who sat in on their interrogation previously told the trial that the pair freely admitted the killings. "

 

How do you explain this ? I'm confused, are you suggesting that everyone who has been involved with this case is lying ? ..

[jitagawn]

The DNA evidence that allegedly matches the accused as well as other surrounding or circumstantial evidence apparently proving their guilt is unreliable and should not be considered. This so-called evidence was not collected, tested or analysed in accordance with internationally accepted standards. This includes all evidence allegedly linking the accused to the crime scene, such as cigarette butts, theft of the male victim's mobile phone and sunglasses as well as the "running man" caught on CCTV.

 

• The prosecution's case is marked by the absence of significant evidence necessary to prove the guilt of the accused. This absent evidence includes photographs of the crime scene, autopsy and DNA analysis process, chain of custody documents for forensic evidence, certain forensic evidence documents as well as a detailed DNA analysis laboratory case notes. In addition, the clothes and the body of the female victim - which should have contained significant traces of the perpetrators' DNA - was either not tested at all, or tested but not included in the prosecution file or case evidence list. CCTV footage provided by the prosecution seemed to be incomplete

 

Hmmm major questions and holes in the case.

[Flashermac]

Khunying Dr. Porthip is the leading Thai DNA expert, and she say the charges should have been dropped, since if anything the DNA proves they weren't the killers. But the court knows better than she does.

 

The whole case stinks and would never have even gone to court in almost any other country.

[jitagawn]

YES this is disgusting... I have a friend that fought and won a case over a 7 year period.

I saw what he went through ....so scary

 

Can they appeal??

 

The system is crooked to say the least..

[jitagawn]

"How do you explain this ? I'm confused, are you suggesting that everyone who has been involved with this case is lying ? .."

 

Yes. TIT