Quote Originally Posted by BobR View Post
Quote Originally Posted by Latindancer View Post
There is one thing about this entire case on which everything hinges : whether the DNA from sperm found in her matches DNA taken from his cheek swab.

I hope the UK authorities have taken their own DNA samples from the sperm remnants her vagina. And that they somehow manage to get samples of the Burmese guy's DNA from his hair, cheek swab, or whatever.
It will match, but since it's the credibility of the police that's at issue here that match will be meaningless. The real question is whether the "matching" DNA claimed to have been taken from the victim's vagina really was, or is it a double sample taken from the accused, which of course would "match."

Without a firm "chain of evidence" that is possession of the evidence by a trusted person or persons from the time of collection, through its testing to its presentation in Court evidence like DNA is more than useless, it's downright dangerous.

One of the regrettable drawbacks of DNA testing is that it now takes so little for a corrupt cop to set someone up. Fortunately that does not happen often, but TIT and there were important people to protect.

I don't think the UK authorities took an independent sample, which is too bad. It would have needed to be taken directly from the victim's vagina early in the investigation and maintained in the possession of embassy officials to have any meaning. Even if they have one, if they got it from the Thais, they do not have a complete and reliable chain of evidence.

This whole thing stinks.

PS: "chain of evidence" is a simple concept, Wikipedia refers to it as "chain of custody" which is the same thing and had an interesting write up on the concept. Chain of custody - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Two good posts. Let's hope there is a trusted cardinal record of the two DNA tests from either the UK or Singapore. At this point, nothing in Thailand can be trusted.