Koh Tao murders

The Koh Tao murders occurred on 15 September 2014 when two British tourists, Hannah Witheridge and David Miller, were found dead on a beach on the island of Koh Tao, Thailand. Their bodies were discovered on Sairee Beach in the early morning. Both victims were hit several times on the head, with Witheridge also being raped, and Miller drowned.

The ensuing investigation to find a suspect and criminal trial was widely criticised by international media, human rights organisations and legal experts. Two illegal Burmese migrant workers were blamed for the deaths two weeks later, based primarily on DNA evidence. The suspects were initially denied access to legal counsel and alleged that police used torture and threats to secure a confession. Pathologists and legal experts criticised the police's mishandling of evidence, allowing contamination of the crime scene, and not using experts to collect forensic evidence. The court was criticised for fast-tracking the 18-day trial and not allowing the defence adequate time to prepare. In December 2015 the men were convicted of the murder and sentenced to death. Attempts to appeal the sentence failed, but a royal decree was granted in 2020, commuting the death sentence to life imprisonment.

Background
Sairee Beach

The island of Koh Tao is located in Southern Thailand. Measuring 21 square kilometres (8 sq mi) in area, it is the smallest of three popular tourist islands in the Gulf of Thailand, and its economy is almost exclusively focused on tourism. The island is popular with backpackers and known for its marine life and scuba diving; it receives half a million visitors each year.[1][2][3] The murders were the first cases of homicide on the island in over eight years.[4]

People involved

Hannah Witheridge, 23, was a University of Essex student from Great Yarmouth, England, and David Miller, 24, a civil and structural engineering graduate from Jersey, a British Crown dependency.[1][5] Witheridge and Miller traveled and arrived on the island separately on 25 August; Witheridge travelling with three other friends, and Miller with two others.[6] The two met in Koh Tao while staying at the same hotel.[7]

Murder

Miller and Witheridge were last seen at a bar with friends at a party on Sunday night with around 50 people – mostly foreign tourists – before they left together after 1 am.[4][6][8] Their bodies were discovered on Sairee Beach a few hours later, between 4 and 5 am, by a mute Burmese beach cleaner.[1][9][10] The bodies lay 20 metres apart and about 30 metres away from their hotel.[1][6] A bloody hoe, believed to be the murder weapon, and a wooden club were found near the bodies, along with the victims' clothes.[2][4][8] Following the murder, local residents blocked the pier to prevent the possible killers from leaving the island.[6][10]

An autopsy revealed that both victims were hit by a hard object. Miller had head wounds, scratches on his back, and water in his lungs indicating drowning,[1][4] while Witheridge was raped and hit several times on the head and face.[11] Both bodies were found semi-naked.[11]

Investigation

The police initially speculated about who the culprit might be, alleging various individuals of perpetrating the crime without hard evidence.[12] They focused on foreign nationals, claiming "Thais wouldn’t do this".[9] They also highlighted another British tourist as a suspect, citing a relationship with the victims; he became the subject of a nationwide manhunt before the police quickly dropped the lead.[2][6] Police suspected at least two individuals were involved with the murders, based on two sets of DNA found on Witheridge's body. They conducted DNA tests on over 200 individuals on the island, many of them casual migrant workers.[4][13] Some migrants who were questioned complained that police scalded them with boiling water during interrogations, allegations which were denied by police.[1]

Two weeks after the bodies were found, on 1 October 2014, police arrested two men who confessed to the murders two days later: Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo,[lower-alpha 1] 22-year-old illegal migrant workers from Rakhine, Myanmar, who worked in the hospitality industry. They had no prior criminal records.[1][9][11] During interrogations, the police used a Burmese food vendor as interpreter.[13] The police said the suspects' DNA matched a sample of semen taken from Witheridge's body and from cigarette butts found near the body. During the interrogation the suspects stated they were motivated to murder due to sexual arousal when they saw the couple kissing on the beach.[15][16] Miller's mobile phone had also been found in Zaw Lin's home.[17] The police forced the suspects to re-enact the murder in front of media, a move condemned by legal experts as prejudicing a fair hearing.[9]

Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo retracted their statements following a visit from a consular lawyer for Myanmar and said they had made their statements under duress, after they had allegedly been beaten, left naked in a freezing room, and threatened with electrocution and an extrajudicial killing.[1][18] The national police chief, Somyot Poompanmoung, denied that torture was involved in the confessions.[18] Thailand's National Human Rights Commission attempted to investigate the allegations, but police representatives did not appear at four scheduled meetings.[1]

A defence team from Bangkok, composed of nearly 20 lawyers, were only permitted half an hour to meet the men; a request by the defence to delay the hearing and allow more time to prepare was denied by a judge at the Koh Samui Provincial Court.[19][13] A 900-page police report was produced to guide the prosecution's case, but the defence were not allowed to see the report until the trial began.[9] Public prosecutors initially rejected the report, asking for "certain flaws" to be fixed, more information to be supplied, and for the report to be made "more succinct".[17]

Trial and conviction

An 18-day trial began on 8 July 2020.[1] The suspects were aided in the legal trial by Migrant Worker Rights Network, an organisation for migrant workers from Myanmar working in Thailand.[11] The defence argued that the investigation was flawed due to "alleged mishandling of forensic evidence, abuse of suspects and intimidation of witnesses".[20] On July 10, the court ordered the DNA to be retested, but police revealed that the samples had been used up.[1][21] The police were unable to find DNA, other than from the victims, on the murder weapon, and did not test Witheridge's clothes. Several CCTV cameras near the crime scene were reported to be nonfunctional, and cameras near the pier were not checked by the police. The DNA analysis in the case was provided to the court as a one-page summary with four supporting pages, some of it handwritten with amendments. Jane Taupin, an Australian forensic scientist brought in by the defence, claimed that the timeline of DNA extraction was dubious; a rapid analysis of DNA samples had happened in less than 12 hours, which she said was unusual because "extracting DNA from mixed samples was difficult and time-consuming". Taupin was ultimately not allowed to testify for the defence, and these issues were not raised by the defence until their closing statement.[12]

On 24 December 2015, Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo were found guilty of murdering Witheridge and Miller, and were sentenced to death.[11] One of the men was also convicted for theft for allegedly stealing a phone and sunglasses from Miller's body.[21] A lawyer for the men, Nakhon Chomphuchat, said "we will appeal as soon as we can, we have just got a copy of the court's verdict. It will take a bit of time to find loopholes to appeal."[20] Attempts to appeal the sentence failed in the Koh Samui Court in May 2016, and in the High Court in 2017.[22] The Supreme Court of Thailand upheld the sentence in August 2019, stating that the police handled the case correctly and the forensic evidence was "clear, credible, and detailed".[11][23]

The death sentences were commuted to life imprisonment on 14 August 2020 following a royal decree to commemorate King Vajiralongkorn's birthday and "illustrate the king's clemency".[5][14] The commutation was welcomed by Miller's family.[24]

Reaction

The investigation was met with criticism by human rights groups and legal experts.[19][9] Amnesty International stated that Thailand "must initiate an independent, effective and transparent investigation into mounting allegations of torture and other ill-treatment by police". They also raised concerns with the absence of legal counsel prior to the confession, as well as difficulties with translation and interpretation.[18][25][7] Human Rights Watch said the case was "profoundly disturbing" and called for the verdict to be reviewed in a "transparent and fair appeal process".[3]

The International Commission of Jurists said "the defense must be afforded adequate time and facilities to explore whether the alleged destruction of evidence in this case was appropriate and unavoidable, and to test the prosecution case overall." Many raised concerns that contamination cast doubt upon the forensic evidence: officials, journalists and tourists were seen walking around the crime scene, and Thai police did not use trained or independent specialists to collect forensic evidence.[1][12] Pornthip Rojanasunand, a Thai forensic scientist, testified at the trial that the crime scene was poorly managed.[12] A British defence lawyer, Felicity Gerry QC, said the trial was "far too rushed and unfair to the defense".[9] Experts have considered the forensic investigation to have been incompetent, and to have possibly framed the suspects.[26]

The mayor of the island, Chaiyan Turasakul, acted to reassure tourists. The island built a new police station and staffed it with 40 full-time officers, compared to five previously. Irregular Burmese migrant workers were required to register with the police in an attempt to prevent bribery.[1][27]

The Prime Minister of Thailand, Prayut Chan-o-cha, said "[foreign female tourists] think our country is beautiful and safe and they can do whatever they want, wear bikinis wherever they like. I'm asking if they wear bikinis in Thailand, will they be safe? Only if they are not beautiful." He later apologised for the comment when it was met with public backlash.[28][29] The UK government expressed concerns with the investigation, and summoned a Thai diplomat in London to discuss them.[13][30] British police observers were permitted into Thailand to assist with the investigation but were only allowed to spend two hours on Koh Tao and did not meet with the suspects or defence.[9][21] Prayut said that British and Burmese government representatives were "limited to observation" and had to "respect our processes".[19]

Notes
  1. Some sources also refer to Wai Phyo as Win Zaw Htun.[14][5]

References
  1. "Thailand's Septic Isle: Backpackers and Bloodshed on Koh Tao". Time. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  2. Campbell, Charlie (23 September 2014). "What the Murder of Two British Tourists Tells Us About Thailand's Dark Side". Time. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  3. Walker, Oliver Holmes Peter (24 December 2015). "Thailand backpacker murders: Burmese workers sentenced to death". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  4. Olarn, Kocha (18 September 2014). "Police: Still no suspect in killings of Britons on idyllic Thai island". CNN.
  5. "Thai king commutes death sentence of UK pair's killers". BBC News. 16 August 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  6. Halliday, Josh (16 September 2014). "British tourists murdered in Thailand". The Guardian.
  7. "Thailand murders: Amnesty International call for police torture probe". BBC News. 24 December 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  8. Henderson, Barney (15 September 2014). "Two British tourists found dead on Thai island of Koh Tao". The Telegraph.
  9. "Suspects in Thai Tourist Murders Face Dubious Trial". Time. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  10. Sidasathian, Chutima (15 September 2014). "UPDATE Two Tourists Brutally Murdered, One Raped: Police Spark Thailand Holiday Island Manhunt - Phuket Wan". Phuket Wan. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  11. Regan, Helen; Puranasamriddhi, Angie (29 August 2019). "Thailand's Supreme Court upholds death penalty for men convicted of murdering British backpackers". CNN.
  12. Head, Jonathan (24 December 2015). "Thailand beach murders: A flawed and muddled investigation". BBC News. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  13. Fuller, Thomas (14 October 2014). "Hearings Open Into Killings of Two British Tourists on Thai Island (Published 2014)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  14. "Thai king commutes death sentence for Myanmar men in British tourist murder case". Reuters. 14 August 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  15. Olarn, Kocha; Armstrong, Paul (3 October 2014). "Burmese men confess to killing British tourists on Koh Tao, Thai police say". CNN.
  16. Walker, Peter (23 November 2014). "Koh Tao's dark side: dangers of island where Britons were murdered". The Guardian.
  17. Campbell, Charlie (10 October 2014). "The Investigation Into Thailand's Backpacker Slayings Is Officially a Farce". Time. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  18. McKirdy, Euan (9 October 2014). "Migrants accused of murder of British couple in Thailand recant confessions". CNN.
  19. "Thai Dictator Faces Ire Over Murder Probe". Time. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  20. Paul, Armstrong (24 December 2015). "Burmese pair to be executed for murder of British tourists on Koh Tao, Thailand". CNN.
  21. Fuller, Thomas (24 December 2015). "2 Sentenced to Death in Killing of British Tourists in Thailand (Published 2015)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  22. "Thai beach murders: Convicted men lose death sentence appeal". BBC News. 1 March 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  23. "Thai beach murders: Death sentence upheld by Supreme Court". BBC News. 29 August 2019. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  24. "Backpacker's family 'grateful' for Thai king's clemency". BBC News. 16 August 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  25. "Myanmar suspects 'recant confessions'". Bangkok Post. 9 October 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  26. Mortimer, Caroline (26 April 2016). "Thai beach murders: DNA investigation into death of British backpackers Hannah Witheridge and David Miller 'incompetent at best'". The Independent.
  27. "Island killings prompt stiffer worker rules". Bangkok Post. 23 September 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  28. "Koh Tao 'an island in shock'". BBC News. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  29. Paddock, Richard C.; Suhartono, Muktita (3 November 2018). "Thai Paradise Gains Reputation as 'Death Island'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  30. Halliday, Josh (13 October 2014). "Foreign Office calls in Thai diplomat over murder inquiry concerns". The Guardian.
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