BANGKOK, Aug 29 — Thailand's Supreme Court today upheld the murder convictions of two migrant workers from Myanmar in the killings of two British backpackers that drew world attention to the tourist island of Koh Tao.
The workers, Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, were sentenced to death for the September 2014 murder of David Miller, 24 and the murder and rape of Hannah Witherridge, 23, on the Thai island, a haven for divers.
In their verdict, a panel of two judges said the death sentences handed down by lower courts would be upheld as the men had been found guilty of murder and rape on the basis of evidence and forensic results.
The men displayed no emotion as they listened intently to a translator while the verdict was read at a court in the province of Nonthaburi, just north of Bangkok, the capital.
The men's legal team said it would seek a royal pardon within 60 days, as provided in Thai law.
After the discovery of the British tourists' bodies on a beach on Koh Tao, police said Witheridge had been raped and bludgeoned to death and Miller had suffered blows to his head.
The murders sullied Thailand's image in the tourism industry, which accounts for about 10 percent of the country's economy.
Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun were quickly arrested and later sentenced to death in 2015, a verdict that was upheld by the appeal court in 2017.
Thai police have faced widespread domestic and international criticism for their handling of the case and the evidence.
A pro-bono legal team defending the men has said evidence collected by police was unreliable and not in accordance with internationally accepted standards, arguing it should not have been used to convict them.
The lawyers have also said the accused men were tortured and coerced into making confessions they later retracted.
“The death sentence against the two accused and their conviction should be reversed and quashed,” Andy Hall, an adviser to the men's legal team, said in a statement to media.
“DNA and forensics evidence relied on to convict Zaw Law and Wai Phyo, and sentence them to death in the Koh Tao murder case, was fundamentally flawed and unreliable in terms of international standards.”
Thai courts have rejected accusations of torture and ruled that DNA evidence linked the workers to the crime.
Source: malaymail.com, Reuters, August 29, 2019
Thai court upholds death penalty over murder of British backpackers
Thailand's Supreme Court has upheld the death sentences of two migrant workers from Myanmar in the high-profile murder of two British backpackers on the popular tourist island of Koh Tao.
The bodies of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller were found on a beach in September 2014.
Police said Witheridge, 23, had been raped and bludgeoned to death and Miller, 24, had suffered blows to his head.
The grim killings on picturesque Koh Tao, a laid-back haven for divers, sullied Thailand's image in the tourism industry, which accounts for about 10 per cent of the country's economy.
Unreliable DNA and forensics evidence
Migrant workers Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun were arrested soon after the killing and later sentenced to death in December 2015, but their supporters said the two were framed and evidence was bungled.
Thai police have faced widespread domestic and international criticism for their handling of the case and the evidence.
A pro-bono legal team defending the two men said evidence collected by police was unreliable and not in accordance with internationally accepted standards, arguing it should not have been used as evidence to convict them.
The lawyers also said that the accused were tortured and coerced into making confessions, which the two later retracted.
"The death penalty sentence against the two accused and their conviction should be reversed and quashed," Andy Hall, an advisor to the two men's legal team, said in a statement to media.
"DNA and forensics evidence relied on to convict Zaw Law and Wai Phyo, and sentence them to death in the Koh Tao murder case was fundamentally flawed and unreliable in terms of international standards."
Low-paid migrants from Myanmar
Activists have said the case reflects a wider trend of low-paid migrant workers from neighbouring countries being blamed for crimes in Thailand where the justice system is easily bent by wealth and power.
Hundreds of thousands of low-paid migrants from Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos prop up key industries in Thailand, such as the tourism and fishing sectors, often experiencing well-documented abuse and discrimination.
Thai courts have rejected allegations of torture and ruled that DNA evidence linked Zaw Lin and Win Zaq Htun to the crime.
Source: Reuters, Staff, August 29, 2019
Thai court upholds death penalty over murder of two Britons
The two migrant workers who were found guilty of the murders of two British backpackers on the Thai island of Koh Tao have had their convictions upheld by the country’s supreme court.
In December 2015, Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo were sentenced to death after being found guilty of the rape and murder of Hannah Witheridge, 23, from Norfolk, and the murder of 24-year-old David Miller, from Jersey, on the island popular with tourists and backpackers.
The pair, who had met at a diving resort on the island just days earlier, were found on a quiet beach with fatal head wounds in September 2014.
The guilty verdict had already been upheld at a lower court in 2017. However, the final appeal at the supreme court ruled the men had been found guilty of murder and rape on the basis of evidence and forensic results.
They displayed no emotion as they listened intently to a translator while the verdict was read at a court in the province of Nonthaburi, just north of the capital, Bangkok.
The men’s legal team said it would seek a royal pardon within 60 days, as provided in Thai law.
Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo, who are migrant workers from Myanmar, have always maintained their innocence and there have been accusations of multiple police failings throughout the case.
Rights groups have said the pair were used as scapegoats by the authorities, as is a common occurrence for migrant workers living in Thailand, allegedly because the police were under pressure to solve a crime that made international headlines.
The police were accused of torturing the pair to extract confessions, claiming they had committed the crime out of sexual jealousy after seeing Witheridge and Miller together on a beach.
There were also allegations that the police had mishandled DNA evidence.
The police case rested heavily on DNA from sperm collected from Witheridge’s body.
While the parents of Witheridge and Miller had initially expressed doubt about the Thai investigation and the guilt of Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo, after a review of the evidence by the Metropolitan police the families backed the trial and eventual conviction.
Source: The Guardian, Hannah Ellis-Petersen, August 29, 2019
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde