Thread: Two Tourists Brutally Murdered on Koh Tao, One Raped: Police Spark Thailand Manhunt

Originally Posted by blue

I want to know how he got that cut on his arm first ?
if it was only anyone else , even in an old photo it would make them guilty by the mob

Why? because you are predisposed to trust everything thai police and authority figure say for some weird reason?

It's not a cut. He had just been donating blood.

I hate the slapstick Thai TV shows and grade school sound effects, but this YouTube video has two guys that know the deal and have higher integrity than the current leadership in this country. Watch between 3:00 and 14:00 only.

Bangkok Post
October 20, 2014
Writer: Online Reporters

The National Human Rights Commission will meet with every police team involved in Koh Tao murder case after a forensic unit determined the suspects might have been tortured during interrogation.

Niran Pitakwatchara, chairman of the NHRC's sub-commission on civil and political rights, asked officials working on the case to testify on Monday. They were from the National Police and the Central Institute of Forensic Science (CIFS) under the Justice Ministry. The NHRC was acting on two suspect-abuse complaints.

Pol Col Prachum Ruangthong, chief of Phangan police station, Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan, director of the CIFS, and the medical team who went to Koh Tao with the NHRC on Oct 13 was present at the hearing.

Dr Niran said that, after the murder, numerous police teams had been sent to Koh Tao as well as local police at the district, provincial, regional and central levels. Marine police, tourism police and crime suppression police were also there. Each group had its own investigative team, Dr Niran quoted Col Prachum as saying. The officer said he could not interfere with the work of those units, said Dr Niran.

For Col Prachum's own unit, his direct supervisor sent Pol Maj Gen Suwat Chaengyodsuk from Bangkok police to collect all evidence and consolidate the investigations. However, Maj Gen Suwat came to the island after the two suspects had been detained.

The forensic team, accompanied by a translator, talked with suspects Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun on Oct 13 and found some interrogators might have tortured them, although it has yet to establish which team they belonged to. The suspects told the doctors they had been beaten and suffocated with a plastic bag but the doctors did not find wounds or bruises on them.

A physical check-up found a pressure mark on the chest of one of the suspects. The NHRC will ask the jail's chief to have him x-rayed so they can find clues from orthopaedic pathology.

"Seven to eight police teams worked at the same time so we need to ask all of them to give testimony. Col Prachum insisted it did not happen in his custody as there was a lawyer present during the interrogation," Dr Niran said.

Also on Monday, migrant-rights activists visited both Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, getting to speak to them in Myanmar and English.

Activist Andy Hall of the Migrant Workers Rights Network tweeted following the visit that both said "their treatment was fine, they experienced no problems inside the prison but said were obviously unhappy in the prison."

Hall continued that both "seemed in good health, did not appear stressed or worried about anything," adding they were having some "difficulty with wearing chains on feet." Both suspects also reported missing their families terribly, Hall tweeted. He said the two informed him that their parents were awaiting visas to travel to Thailand to see them.

Full article: Right panel opens inquiry after finding Koh Tao suspects abused | Bangkok Post: news

Porntip Rojanasunan why would she be at the hearing considering she has previously expressed that the murder scene was a sham.

I take it she didn't do the DNA testing.

Gets mind boggling.

"Seven to eight police teams worked at the same time so we need to ask all of them to give testimony. Col Prachum insisted it did not happen in his custody as there was a lawyer present during the interrogation," Dr Niran said.

And this Lawyer was? Nothing to do with the lads.

Whats the chances of their parents getting visas in the near future?

Thai authorities no shame.

It really is making me seriously consider my future here.
sep

The statements I read from the NHRC hardly sounded like someone who was going into bat for them...... probably the brother of some General or other with a brief to not show too much interest in the case....

Originally Posted by Bobcock

The statements I read from the NHRC hardly sounded like someone who was going into bat for them...... probably the brother of some General or other with a brief to not show too much interest in the case....

Of course it is. I seem to recall posting a link on here somewhere about the top guys on this body and they were all in the jobs because of their families with quite a bit of contraversy about a few of them in the past making statements which dehumanized the people they are supposed to be protecting.


Yorlof - indeed - an complete nonsense from these supposed human rights people.

Originally Posted by septimus

"Seven to eight police teams worked at the same time so we need to ask all of them to give testimony.

Now even MORE investigators are getting in on the act, including foreign ones. More confusion with the left hand not knowing what the right is doing. I wonder if it is partly intentional, a bit like a filibuster ?

I still think they will be suicided which is why the Myanmar representative has been at pains to say they are in high spirits.

Or, they will maintain their charade and it will turn into a greater farce once the UK coppers say "this is a fit up pure and simple" which will be met by a statement from Prattyut saying "No, you not understand what they say. British police agree with us and say they are guilty and say we should execute them very quickly which we did 4 minutes ago in order to protect and enhance the reputation of Thailand and boost Tourist numbers. As an aside, we are no introducing, with TAT, a special campaign for tourists visiting the prison they were executed in "Thailand land of safety for tourism and executions"" .... or something like that.

I just read on TV f/b that the prosecution office has told the bib to go and investigate more people. It would seem they don't have enough of a case.
I also read yesterday that the bib had now closed the case. Not bothering about the third person?

A word of warning if you are Burmese living on Koa-Tao..... RUN

Now is the time for UK police to get their arses over here. What's the betting there is some delay. Probably visas.
sep

Originally Posted by Yasojack

Porntip Rojanasunan why would she be at the hearing considering she has previously expressed that the murder scene was a sham.

I take it she didn't do the DNA testing.

And you support her competence?

Wiki quote:

Pornthip was a vocal supporter of the GT200 "bomb-detector," a device that has since been called fraudulent by the US government.[5] She said she had used the device to "detect" explosives and dead bodies in several high-profile investigations.

Pornthip Rojanasunand - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

One TD poster opined that "The day when the RTP could manipulate DNA to convict foreign works is outdated by 20 years...

And his buddy chimes in to bad mouth any one in disagreement because they "Were trying to educate us old hands..."

I love it and I'm not sure which is more laughable- the authorities bungling the case or knowledgeable TD posters who declare the RTP are not influenced by Koh Tao families AND we can believe the DNA results linking the two Burmese guys to the crime...

The fiction on this site far surpasses anything the Western entertainment media can produce

How long will this saga go on?
The BIB will not back-down and the British investigators will be shown what the BIB want them to see.

Originally Posted by Lancelot

knowledgeable TD posters who declare the RTP are not influenced by Koh Tao families AND we can believe the DNA results linking the two Burmese guys to the crime...

These types tend to not live in Thailand, and never have.

Asian Correspondent
October 21, 2014
By Saksith Saiyasombut & Siam Voices, James Austin Farrell

Excerpts from the article:

"Before social media became omnipresent, this darker side of the Land of Smiles did not pose much of a problem for the tourism industry. Most people I talked to back then about such concerning incidents in the justice system were surprised, or just digested the material as anomalous, something that would never encroach into their lives.

Such cases were not international news, nor were they shared much between ‘friends’, even in Thailand. While the police hid behind their justification that cover-ups were for the greater good of the country – mainly the economy fueled by tourist money – even the fall-out of busted cover-ups at the time didn’t do that much damage due to the fact that few followed the cases.

These cases, however, have come back to bite Thailand in the exterior. The crime in Koh Tao, and the ongoing investigation, has become intrinsically linked to these past misdemeanors. History, as it does, has fashioned a reputation, and Thailand, or the Thai justice system, is now suffering its reputation."



"A lot rests on the outcome of the Koh Tao investigation. How much more face can Thailand lose before tourists lose the confidence to come here? In the unlikely event that the two Burmese men are proven to be innocent, or the even less likely event that someone makes themselves accountable for a cover-up, then Thailand’s reputation, and economy, will suffer. If the Burmese men are convicted without a thorough impartial investigation, then Thailand’s reputation, and economy, will suffer. This is a debt to past inequities.

It’s a tough place for Thailand to be: a developing nation under first world scrutiny, grafting modernity to its rugged past. If the current government, or a government that proceeds it, sincerely embraces reform, then one would think, in the interests of the greater good, it might start with how law and justice is served. If this is not a foremost concern, then the country is its own enemy. While recent poll results revealed Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has ‘lifted Thailand’s image’ in the eyes of the world, such spoon-fed findings will do little to shake off an image cast by events mentioned in this article."


Full article: http://asiancorrespondent.com/127509...s-of-tourists/

Originally Posted by noelbino

How long will this saga go on?
The BIB will not back-down and the British investigators will be shown what the BIB want them to see.

Yeah but its kinda like independent auditors that review a firms financial documents; e.g. an Income Statement and Balance Sheet. The firm's management can state that earnings were x, but the Independent Auditors can give their opinion that they disagree.

Most likely it will boil down to a case of the Thais saying they have the real culprits and the Brits saying we are not convinced.

Too much face involved now and the Thais will never concede that errors were made.

"Before social media became omnipresent, this darker side of the Land of Smiles did not pose much of a problem for the tourism industry. Most people I talked to back then about such concerning incidents in the justice system were surprised, or just digested the material as anomalous, something that would never encroach into their lives."

That's quite true. I know people who have lived here for years that still don't know it.

Originally Posted by RedWhiskeredBulBul

"Before social media became omnipresent, this darker side of the Land of Smiles did not pose much of a problem for the tourism industry. Most people I talked to back then about such concerning incidents in the justice system were surprised, or just digested the material as anomalous, something that would never encroach into their lives."

That's quite true. I know people who have lived here for years that still don't know it.

Yep the more the media exposes what actually goes down here, the more simple minded tourist/expats will expound to any one willing to listen how lovely the locals are and after 10, 20 30 years in country they have never had a problem...

Life is full of problems no matter where one resides. Simply having a problem doesn't mean a place is undesirable but it more important how the problem is resolved.

Conflict resolution is not a strong suite of the folks native to the LOS...

^Unfortunately, you are dead right (Lancelot).

I am not one of the anti-Thai brigade but Lancelot has a point. The Thais are not renowned for their amazing apologetic abilities. They *generally will tell another lie
rather than admit their original mis-truth.

Originally Posted by Sumocakewalk

It’s a tough place for Thailand to be: a developing nation under first world scrutiny, grafting modernity to its rugged past. If the current government, or a government that proceeds it, sincerely embraces reform, then one would think, in the interests of the greater good, it might start with how law and justice is served. If this is not a foremost concern, then the country is its own enemy. While recent poll results revealed Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has ‘lifted Thailand’s image’ in the eyes of the world, such spoon-fed findings will do little to shake off an image cast by events mentioned in this article."

Read my post #1738...I say it more eloquently...

Originally Posted by YOrlov

Andy Hall, a British activist in Thailand

Good luck with that Andy

Originally Posted by BaitongBoy

Originally Posted by Sumocakewalk

It’s a tough place for Thailand to be: a developing nation under first world scrutiny, grafting modernity to its rugged past. If the current government, or a government that proceeds it, sincerely embraces reform, then one would think, in the interests of the greater good, it might start with how law and justice is served. If this is not a foremost concern, then the country is its own enemy. While recent poll results revealed Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has ‘lifted Thailand’s image’ in the eyes of the world, such spoon-fed findings will do little to shake off an image cast by events mentioned in this article."

Read my post #1738...I say it more eloquently...

You forgot to tell Sumocackewalk to stop educating Thai experts such as your self

Originally Posted by NZdick1983

^Unfortunately, you are dead right (Lancelot).

I am not one of the anti-Thai brigade but Lancelot has a point. The Thais are not renowned for their amazing apologetic abilities. They *generally will tell another lie
rather than admit their original mis-truth.

I'm not pleased to be happy about this one buddy.

Many Thais are charming and fun to be around- until there is a disagreement.