z42

What is the point of handing out a jail term supposedly without suspension, but then immediately suspending it when somebody stumps up bail money... What exactly is the bail for if he has already confessed to committing the crime, been shown on video committing the crime, been shown on video lying about committing the crime.

So again if someone with a bit of knowledge on Thai legal affairs. What exactly is the bail for if he is not appealing and has been sentenced? I am at a loss to understand it. I honestly can't think of any other country i've ever lived in or travelled to. It makes me despair at having chosen to live and raise a family here.

If there was such a thing as karma then this woman would be coming back as something lower down that dog excrement. This shows that the Thai justice system is in abysmally poor state, the word justice is lost on such a shambolic system. This is 1 of the worst things i've heard yet, loathsome in the extreme

Watched this earlier on, agree with stephenterry above in that it glosses over a lot of the controversial issues. Although I must say that even though I think the B2 are wholly innocent, that Mon's story about why they were attempting to speak to Mon does sound pretty plausible.

The whole thing case continues to stink to high heaven IMO, i'm pretty sure the camera crews and reporters were given some pretty strict parameters to stay within to get such access to some of the people and footage from the documentary.

Excellent documentary on this whole tragic event here http://video.toggle.sg/en/series/undercover-asia-s3/ep7/.VtY89iPXdJY.twitter

I thought it was ridiculous when i read about it, now i've seen the video I am firmly of the opinion that is IS ridiculous. The trigger happy fool of a cop should not be getting any kind of plaudits imo. Firing weapons should only be done on the pretense of someone is actively trying to kill or gravely injure you first. Didn't see much of that here when a guy is speeding away in a different direction

Another... Although the article only seems to talk about the ceremonial nonsense that comes before anything of (supposed) substance. JAG in an earlier post mentioned the teacher filmed hitting students. The whole sector is in so much of a mess right now that the issue of clouting a bunch of kids around the head is such a non issue that it is not even worthy of a proper discussion. Shambolic really

I would love if a mob gets wind of his escapades and goes to town, definitely merited by his supposed form to date. And pardon my ignorance but what kind of bike costs 800,000 baht in Thailand. Even the top end Kawasaki's don't go for much more than 500k brand new....

What about telling lies, very poorly crafted lies purportedly passed off as the truth, everyday. That doesn't sound like a sin does it Sanserm???????

As utterly despicable, corrupt, and loathsome as he is, Thaksin is bang on the money with this. And it shows what a low the NCPO has sunk to when Thaksin has the moral high ground

Even by the gutter standards of late, this is an abysmal low & utterly disgraceful to boot. I await NCPO spokesman Major General Sanserm Kaewkamnerd's spinning of this latest farce with glee

Still think confiscation is a better solution personally

Am I only the only one who's not mad about what this woman has done/is doing?

Don't get me wrong - what's going on is absolutely wrong and if all is true, she needs to pay back what she owes. But I can't help but feel locals are just venting against her because she's a Thai who has a better life abroad and isn't coming back.

With all the blatant corruption and stealing that goes on here with the rich and powerful, I'd love to see some consistency. She's just an easy target. There are a lot worse people here who the public don't even bat an eyelid with.

I think what most Thais (and the odd foreigner who actually cares) are angry about is her attitude, in more than 20 years she has barely dented the loan amount, has broken the terms of her scholarship (ie not fulfilled her legal / moral responsibilities towards Mahidol Uni) and has now dropped her guarantors in the proverbial because of her financial mismanagement.

For the Thais who are dedicated and smart enough to make a good life for themselves abroad, I wish them every success doing it, but when you don't take care of your affairs back home & it causes massive hardships for them, that is a huge issue. Put yourself in her guarantors' shoes

Someone send some shiny paper for them to play with instead, and hurry, otherwise these GROWN MEN might burn themselves

Again the police demand to be taken at their word & for added oomph decide to wheel out the defamation card.. A sick outfit at best. This guy in chains is done, Koh Tao case all over again

It is all a moot point. The police failed to link possession of the phone to the accused, yet the court went with it. Just as the court accepted the confessions which were the result of torture and written by a man who could not speak the language of the accused or Thai with any degree of competency. They also accepted DNA evidence which appears to have been done by a 5 year old in the kitchen and recorded in crayon.

If the court didn't care about any of that then...

The defendants admitted to finding the phone. That's when their story changed to returning back to the beach at 5am to collect their clothes.

Not only did wp admit to finding the phone. In the court documents, he originally lied to rin rin, and said he found it at the restaurant.

Then after the news hit, Wei Phyo changed his story and said, he found it on the beach near the crime at 4 in the morning.

That's when rin rin destroyed it. They knew and rin rin knew exactly whose phone it was.

You know the old saying. .....

Once you tell a lie, nobody will believe you even when you do tell the truth.

Maybe andy can read them the story of pinochio when he visits.

And not only was there a direct connection to the victims by the phone. The video footage, of which we have only seen a very small part of, was beyond being able to explain.

They were not all tucked up nicely sleeping after 2am, at least 2 of them were out and about most of the night.

What video footage? Unless you've seen something the rest of the world didn't see yet I call BS on it. Link please

If ever there was a need to confiscate passports then this is certainly that time. I would bet my last penny that the really connected folks here are already in the process of moving assets out and will be shipping out themselves shortly after

And it is almost certain that once again the authorities will simply deny this & not investigate the allegations in an acceptable manner. I personally don't disbelieve the suspect here, and further to that there were supposedly translation problems that weren't resolved until after he was charged, which begs the question how did he or the RTP say, read or in any way FULLY understand what was said.

Another disgraceful farce. I'd love to proven wrong, but the evidence so far that is being used looks to be far from conclusive. I'll happily eat my words if anything more definitive than a dubious confession / grainy cctv shots come to light

An abomination, simple as that

Maybe he could give some insight into the economic model he and his cronies have adhered to all these years, you know the ones where a person on a public servant's salary can accumulate multi million dollar fortunes in only a couple of decades.. Am sure people would be very interested to hear about how that works

The only good that can come of this now is that this guy gets demoted when somebody outranking him steps in and orders the powers that be to cut the crap.

Good, disciplined, seasoned, PROFESSIONAL soldiers are NOT hot tempered. In fact to the contrary, they are highly disciplined and adept at putting the deadpan face on when times get tough. This guy was never a real soldier, and is now a pure embarrassment to Thailand.

Oh and also have to throw in that this Sanserm guy is such a BS artist that it is actually painful to read anything that he's said because 99.999999999% of it is total nonsense. Thailand is doomed if these people are ever allowed near politics again in future

Not often that i'd sing the praises of anything a local "official" does here. But I think this a stroke of genius. Sure the means are pretty dodgy, but this fake seller obviously had done this scam multiple times before & for sure won't pull a stunt like this again. Bravo sir

A disgrace

Strong statement, but one could only wonder why they said it, and what caused them to think that way. Most tourists I know and have seen in Thailand are pretty oblivious to the real dangers here, and think that everything is the same as it is back in their safe and orderly home countries. I would guess that only a very small fraction are actually harmed on their travels here considering the numbers of tourists. So unless the witheridge family knew something most others don't, or they actually looked on the UK home office travel guide we'll never know.
Such a shame regardless

No, I'm not aware at all.

What is the difference between sexual assault and rape.

Bless

Make that what is the substantial difference?, because that's how it was sold to the public by the defense, that there were substantial differences.

"“It was a great opportunity to raise doubts about the prosecutions case. I raised significant doubts on the validity of the Thai autopsy report. The person running on the CCTV footage, which is one of the crucial parts of evidence for the prosecution, is not the defendant [Win Zaw Htun], according to the gait analysis by a UK expert.

“There were substantial differences between the Thai autopsy report, and the British autopsy report,” said Andy Hall."

The UK report also agrees that the injuries were caused by the hoe, so what were this supposed "substantial differences"? Not holding my breath to get an answer on that one.

Also worth pointing there that the "gait analysis UK expert" was not a gait analysis expert and the company that did the "analysis" doesn't provide such service:

"The gait analysis was conducted by Mr. Stephen Cole, Member of the Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences (MCSFS), and owner of Acumé Forensics Ltd in Leeds, United Kingdom. [1]

While it is true that Mr. Cole is a MCSFS, he is not an Accredited Forensic Practitioner (AcFP) in Forensic Gait Analysis, and does not hold the Society’s certificate of professional competence in this area of practice. [1,2]

It should also be noted that the ‘Forensic Science Regulator’ (FSR) in the UK considers gait comparison to be a subjective process and “therefore the opinion given by the expert will be based upon their competency, training and study of the specialist subject, rather than objective measurements”. Mr. Stephen Cole lacks professional competency in the area of gait analysis, and has appeared to have neither trained nor studied in this area of practice. Futhermore, Acumé Forensics does not list gait analysis as one of their main services offered. The FSR also notes that the analysis must be documented in detail, follow a structured methodology, and that overall the reliability and quality of the interpretation can be difficult to determine, due to its subjective nature. [1,2,3,4]"

When are they going to wake up to the fact they've been mislead?

Nobody has been mislead I don't think. The most in depth report i've seen is here http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/12146786/Hannah-Witheridges-mother-reveals-she-pleaded-with-her-daughter-not-to-go-to-Thailand.html

Certainly doesn't seem to allude to anything supporting a rape having taken place, ie not resisting.

"A post-mortem examination by a UK pathologist gave the medical cause of death as severe head injuries.

It noted that there were multiple blows to the skull, consistent with the use of the blade of a hoe wielded as a weapon, and death would have been rapid."

That same hoe that didn't have DNA or fingerprints of the supposed killers on. But still had DNA of as yet unidentified people on. So surely wouldn't the next step be trying to find out if there are any ways to check whose DNA / prints could be on the hoe.

And also interesting to note that the british docs / coroner specifically stated that the body was dragged / moved at some point. I wonder by who exactly? I am not sure if there was ever a video of the re enactment, does anybody know if the B2 claimed they dragged the body during their dubious confession / re enactment