Thailand issues death sentences over tourist murders

The migrant workers from Myanmar are guilty of murdering two British holidaymakers.

British students Hannah Witheridge and David Miller, who were found murdered on the island of Koh Tao in Thailand on September 15, 2014. EPA

KOH SAMUI, THAILAND // Two Myanmar migrants were sentenced to death on Thursday for murdering a pair of British holidaymakers on a Thai island, in a case that sullied the kingdom’s reputation as a tourist haven and raised questions over its justice system.

Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Tun were found guilty of killing David Miller, 24, and the rape and murder of Hannah Witheridge, 23, whose battered bodies were found on a beach on the southern diving resort of Koh Tao in September last year.

Both defendants were “guilty of murder for which the penalty is the death sentence,” an unnamed judge reading the bench’s verdict told the court on neighbouring Koh Samui.

The pair were also found guilty of raping Witheridge in a ruling that was welcomed by Miller’s family, who travelled to Thailand for the verdict.

The judge said “DNA evidence from both suspects” guided the decision, citing forensic traces from the accused found on Witheridge’s body.

The migrant workers, who were shackled in court, were grim-faced as the verdict was delivered, while the mother of one of them wailed from the gallery.

Both men denied killing the British pair and their lawyers have pledged to appeal after a police investigation they say was riddled with flaws and inconsistencies from the outset.

The men were arrested on October 2 after a high-profile police probe which saw authorities come under intense pressure to solve a case that shocked the Thai public.

The defence has accused the police of bungling and using the migrant men — both aged 22 — as scapegoats.

Investigators were accused of failing to properly collect and preserve DNA samples and declining to test key pieces of evidence, such as Witheridge’s clothes.

Miller was struck by a single blow and left to drown in shallow surf while Witheridge was raped and then bludgeoned to death with a garden hoe.

Flanked by his parents as he spoke outside the court, Michael Miller — the brother of the slain David — said “justice” had been served.

“He (David) was hacked down from behind, dragged into the sea and left to die. That will live with us forever. What happened to Hannah Witheridge is unspeakable,” he said.

“David always stood up for justice and justice is what has been delivered today,” he added, endorsing the work of the Thai police and the reliability of the forensic evidence.

Witheridge’s relatives did not return to Thailand for the verdict.

Throughout the trial the defence disputed the forensic evidence and accused the police of torturing their clients into signing confessions, which they later retracted.

Rights groups say the case reflects a wider trend of low-paid migrant workers from neighbouring countries, including Myanmar, being blamed for crimes in Thailand where the justice system is easily bent by wealth and power.

Andy Hall of the Migrant Worker Rights Network and an adviser to the defence team said court decision had failed to prove “beyond reasonable doubt” that the men were guilty.

“We believe that the evidence presented at court was full of holes, was incompetently collected, and incompetently analysed,” he added.

* Agence France-Presse