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

When one is relating a story to another person and then passing it down the line to the tenth person the message will change .

This is fact.

Try doing that with a person who is trying to translate it into another language. ?

Can never work can it.

These guys have no chance of getting an accurate translation of their story.

^
Excellent point Terry which can be applied to just about every situation where any translation is involved.

And we all wonder why we can not get a simple point across in Thailand.

^
^^
Chinese whispers, good party game.

Such a high profile case as this with all the international media attention does not warrant qualified independent interpreters?

^
Another good point Chit.

Solicitors from International Human Rights Group Banned from Taking Notes in Koh Tao Murder Trial

KOH SAMUI -International observer from monitoring agency Solicitors International Human Rights Group complained to the judges that he was not allowed to keep a written account of the trial the murder trial of David Miller, 24, and Hannah Witheridge, 23, on the Thai Gulf island of Koh Tao.

Journalists and other observers have been banned from taking notes or making any recordings since the first day of the trial. According to the Thai legal system, permission to take notes is at the discretion of the judges. Despite the complaint, the judges yesterday declined to lift the ban.

The defence maintains that the Rakhine natives are being scapegoated following a botched investigation that was rushed to clear Thailand’s marred image as a tourist paradise.

The defence team’s case relies on the ability to conduct an independent re-analysis of DNA evidence that allegedly pegs the accused to the crime scene. After initially being told that the original DNA samples were “finished”, the defence has now been given permission to retest all remaining “trace” DNA on samples from the crime scene.

The Thai Court in Koh Samui has heard that the interpreters used to record the confessions of two Burmese men accused of murdering a pair of British backpackers last year were in fact flatbread hawkers who did not properly understand Thai or the suspects’ native Burmese dialect.

Wai Phyo and Zaw Lin, both 22, stand accused of the murder of David Miller, 24, and the rape and murder of Hannah Witheridge, 23, on the Thai Gulf island of Koh Tao. The victims’ bloodied corpses were discovered in the early hours of Sept. 15 on popular Sairee Beach just yards from their guesthouse.

The suspects, both ethnic Rakhine from Burma’s restive western Arakan state, were working on Koh Tao at the time, and admitted to the double murder during interrogation. However, they soon recanted and claimed they were tortured into confessing.

On Thursday, Samui Central Court heard that two Rohingya Muslims — an ethnicity currently engaged in a bitter sectarian feud with the Rakhine — were employed as interpreters during their interrogation. However, they only had rudimentary understanding of Thai and the Rakhine language, reports the Myanmar Times.

One of the translators, named Ko Ye, admitted to the defense team that he signed a statement confirming what was said during the interrogation even though it was written in the Thai language, which he could not read.

Wai Phyo said the translator accused him of being party to mob violence against Rohingya in their homeland. “He asked me: ‘When the riots started in Burma, where were you? Did you burn down my village?’” said Wai Phyo.

Solicitors from International Human Rights Group Banned from Taking Notes in Koh Tao Murder Trial | Chiang Rai Times English Language Newspaper

British Judge Denies Koh Tao Murder Defendants UK Police Report

LONDON – Briton’s High Court Judge Nicholas Green ruled on Tuesday that Win Zaw Htun and Zaw Lin the two Myanmar workers on trial for the murder of two British tourists on Koh Tao should not be given access to a confidential British police report about the case.

In a ruling handed down in London on Tuesday, High Court Judge Nicholas Green said the misgivings were such Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and his British counterpart, David Cameron, discussed the matter.

The two leaders agreed that Britain’s Metropolitan Police would send a team to Thailand to conduct an independent inquiry. However, as it is British policy not to assist foreign police forces in death penalty cases, the scope of the mission was to observe and record the Thai police investigation.

Thai police cooperated fully under the pre-agreed condition that the British team’s final report would be shared only with the Witheridge and Miller families.

But the two murder suspects, who have been on trial since early July, applied to the court to hand over the report, arguing that it might be of use to their defence case.

The Metropolitan Police opposed their application, arguing that disclosure would impede the force’s ability to enter into cooperation agreements with foreign authorities in future.

Having seen the full report, the judge ruled that the interests of the police outweighed those of the suspects.

“In short I have concluded that there is nothing in the police report which is exculpatory, i.e. would be of material assistance to the claimants in the trial,” he said in a summary of his ruling.

Postmortem examinations of the two British backpackers showed both suffered severe head wounds and Witheridge was raped.

The two suspects initially confessed in police interviews and were taken to the crime scene where they re-enacted the murders in front of the world’s media. They later retracted the confessions, alleging they had been tortured by Thai police.

British Judge Denies Koh Tao Murder Defendants UK Police Report | Chiang Rai Times English Language Newspaper

Slimy git Cameron impeding justice.

The presence of a single blonde hair, clutched in the hand of Norfolk student Hannah Witheridge after her death on the island of Koh Tao in Thailand,

has proved that senior police officers gave contradictory evidence at her murder trial.

The hair, which still had the root attached when it was found on Ms Witheridge’s body by the Royal Thai Police pathologist during her autopsy, was sent for testing.

The strand test revealed it had not come from either 23 year-old Ms Witheridge, or Jersey tourist David Miller, 24, who was murdered alongside her.

The police pathologist testified to the court in early July that the laboratory could not be sure of the colour of the hair, even though he confirmed it had looked blonde.

The two men being tried for the killings, 22 year-olds Zaw Lin and Wei Phyo, are both Burmese migrants and have dark hair.

The police pathologist who carried out the autopsy said in July that the investigation had set the evidence aside because of the inconclusive test result.

In court today, one of the main police investigators, Lieutenant Colonel Somsak Nurod, said he had spoken to the police pathologist on the 2nd and 3rd of October, at the same time as the defendants were arrested and two weeks after the autopsies, but otherwise he had no further contact with him.

However, the defence lawyers representing the two Myanmar workers produced a statement from the pathologist, stating that Lt Col Nurod had made two separate trips to meet with him in Bangkok in late October, and again on the November 18 after both defendants had retracted their confessions.


The pathologist’s statement said that the meetings had included discussion on the hair found in Ms Witheridge’s hand.

When challenged in court, Lt Col Nurod admitted that further discussion about the hair strand had indeed taken place, but he did not reveal exactly what was said.

Mr Miller’s family are attending the latest round of court hearings on Koh Samui but Ms Witheridge’s family are not.

They are receiving daily written reports instead.

The circus continues.

Senior police officers give contradictory evidence at Hannah Witheridge murder trial - News - Norwich Evening News

Bar worker claims he only admitted murdering two British backpackers 'because he was tortured by police who tied plastic bags over his head until he collapsed' | Daily Mail Online

Originally Posted by Pragmatic

Your link doesn't work. Bar worker claims he only admitted murdering two British backpackers 'because he was tortured by police who tied plastic bags over his head until he collapsed' | Daily Mail Online

The Daily Mail is blocked in Thailand, i'll repost the story for you from the UK..

A bar worked on trial for murdering two British backpackers on a Thai island has told a court today how police put a plastic bag over his head until he collapsed to get a confession.
Burmese worker Zaw Lin, 22, made the claims to a court in Koh Sumui today as he and fellow Burmese worker Wei Phyo, 22, stand trial for the murder of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller.
Lin said that men carrying batons abducted him from his dormitory in the middle of the night, took him somewhere that wasn't a police station, stripped him naked and suffocated him.
They repeatedly asked if he had killed the backpackers. When he said no, they put another bag around his head and pulled the bottom tight around his neck so he couldn't breath.
Lin's statement was so shocking that his mother, Phi Shwe Nu, ran from the court and vomited as her son explained what police had done.
The defence has already indicated that fellow defendant Wei Phyo, 22, plans to give a similarly graphic report.
Police, under international pressure to find the killers, arrested the two Burmese bar workers within days of the deaths and obtained a confession, which they have both now retracted.
Today, when the men's lawyers started their defence evidence, Zaw stepped forward and, through a translator, told how a gang of some 10 men in civilian clothes, some armed with wooden batons, came to his dormitory in the middle of the night and took him and six others away in handcuffs.
'I was taken to a place that wasn't a police station and separated from the others,' Lin told the court.
'They started asking me questions through a translator and then they stripped me naked in an air conditioned room and put a plastic bag tightly over my head.
'I bit through the bag to be able to breathe, so they put another bag on top of that one and the translator asked me: "Did you kill?"
'When I said 'No', they put another bag over my head and pulled it tight around my neck.
'The translator then asked me again: "Did you kill or not?"
'Then I collapsed on the floor.'
He told the court that while he had a bag over his head someone managed to reach underneath and put something in his mouth while the interrogation continued.
Zaw said he had been working in a number of restaurants and bars on Koh Tao since 2012 and was legally registered to be employed as a migrant worker.
Turning to the night in the lead up to the murders of Miss Witheridge and Mr Miller, Zaw admitted that he had been with two friends on Sairee Beach.
They had drunk beer and smoked cigarettes and one of their friends had got hold of a bottle of wine.
One of the group left the beach to visit his girlfriend but the two Burmese stayed on the beach and decided to have a swim.

They hid their guitar in a nearby bar, and Wei Phyo left his shoes and his shirt on the beach.
However, said Zaw, when they came out of the water the clothing and the guitar could not be found.
'It was then we gave up looking for our things. We went home to bed at a friends house at between two and three o'clock in the morning,' said Zaw.
A Burmese man who was with the two accused, known as Mao Mao, has not been asked to testify and although the Prosecution took a statement from him they have admitted that they do not know where Mao Mao now is.
The trial is continuing.






Read more: Bar worker claims he only admitted murdering two British backpackers 'because he was tortured by police who tied plastic bags over his head until he collapsed' | Daily Mail Online
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Originally Posted by Chittychangchang

The Daily Mail is blocked in Thailand

No it isn't. My link works. A case of knowing where to look.

Originally Posted by Pragmatic

Originally Posted by Chittychangchang

The Daily Mail is blocked in Thailand

No it isn't. My link works. A case of knowing where to look.

If you live in thailand, you have to know the tools like ZenMate and others that allow you to stay connected.

Originally Posted by thailazer

If you live in thailand, you have to know the tools like ZenMate and others that allow you to stay connected.

No you don't. Use this URL and click on the top site then 'News'. https://www.google.co.th/search?q=su...astic+holidays

Koh Tao Photos related to the Murders of Hannah & David

Not the gory ones!

The case in pics.

Originally Posted by Chittychangchang

Koh Tao Photos related to the Murders of Hannah & David

Not the gory ones!

The case in pics.

What is the arrow in the "running man" section pointing to?

Will be interesting to see if the Thai authorities ever try to find the real perps after this trial is over. Fairly clear to see who is in control down there.

Originally Posted by thailazer

What is the arrow in the "running man" section pointing to?

I was wondering that too. Also, why are the first 3 pics of Running Man in a light-coloured sarong, and the others withy him wearing a dark one ? Is this supposed to show he changed sarongs because the first may have had blood on it ?

Cops said no DNA on the hoe, there actually was and it's not either of the two on trial.

DNA on weapon does not match men accused of killing British tourists in Thailand | World news | The Guardian

From that link ^ : "Police say sperm collected from the crime scene implicates the two defendants, but have not provided samples for retesting".

The police had also earlier said :

Other DNA evidence, found on Witheridge’s body, was too damaged to be re-examined, a police witness had said earlier in the trial.

Convenient, just take our word for it, would we lie to you ?

some bits

The defence pressed to retest crucial forensic evidence from the crime scene with a handful of items re-examined by Thailand's Central Institute of Forensic Science (CIFS) including a garden hoe, the suspected murder weapon.
"The DNA on the weapon did not match with the two suspects," Porntip Rojanasunan, director-general of the CIFS, said after testifying at Koh Samui Provincial Court on Friday.


Porntip also told the court that there was no DNA found on other items tested by the forensics institute including a shoe and some plastic bags.
In July a witness at the trial had testified to removing and washing down the garden hoe after coming across it shortly after the tourists' bodies were found on the island.

DNA of Myanmar men charged with killing British tourists in Thailand does not match weapon, expert says - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

In many countries the prosecution would have withdrawn to save face by now. Here they keep digging the hole in the hope that they will come out the other side.

Originally Posted by baldrick

Porntip also told the court that there was no DNA found on other items tested by the forensics institute including a shoe and some plastic bags. In July a witness at the trial had testified to removing and washing down the garden hoe after coming across it shortly after the tourists' bodies were found on the island.

But another report on the trial completely contradicts this


"Speaking to DVB on Thursday evening, the lawyer said the court heard testimony from a Burmese migrant named U Oh, who was a garbage collector on Sairee Beach during the period in September 2014 when British tourists Hannah Witheridge and David Miller were murdered.
“U Oh confirmed he was the owner of the garden hoe, which is alleged to have been used as the murder weapon in the case,” Aung Myo Thant said. “A police officer had earlier testified that the hoe was used to murder the victims, then the blood-stained tool was placed under a bag and discarded on the beach.”
But U Oh testified that the hoe was in the same place he left it the night before, the lawyer said.
“Also, police cajoled him to say he washed off the blood from the hoe. However, that is not what he told the judge. He said that he had not paid any attention to the hoe and was not aware of whether there was any blood on it or not.” https://www.dvb.no/news/police-tried...urt-told/54664




Which report from the court room is correct? Pretty hard to tell really given that the judge ordered that no one take notes of the proceedings. Hard to say why this would be necessary but apparently in Thai law it's within the judges discretion to do this. No wonder, with no note taking allowed and all the difficulties of translating, that different reports of the trial produce different and diametrically opposed information. In the end, the judge gets to summarize the trial and evidence presented and his version is the one that goes down as correct in Thai law. By the way, I'm not saying that this way of doing things has anything to do with justice.

Wonder if Pornthip will be safe this weekend ?