Koh Tao: Men accused of killing Brit backpackers plead with victims' families for justice

[webfact]

Thailand beach murders: Men accused of killing Brit backpackers plead with victims' families for justice

BY ANDY LINES

Burmese Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo, both 22, go on trial next week accused of killing Hannah Witheridge and David Miller

LONDON: -- Bar workers suspected of murdering two British ­backpackers are pleading with the victims’ family to make sure justice is done.

Burmese Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo, both 22, go on trial next week accused of killing Hannah Witheridge and David Miller, found dead on a beach on the idyllic island of Koh Tao, Thailand.

The men, facing the death penalty if convicted, insist they did not kill David, 24, of Jersey, and Hannah, 23, of Hemsby, Norfolk, who had also been raped.

But the 22-year-old Burmese bar workers insist they are completely innocent of the crime on Koh Tao.

They said they only confessed after being tortured by Thai Police.

And the pair pleaded with the parents of 23-year-old Hannah and David, 24, to demand that Thai Police be “completely honest” in how they conducted their investigation.

Full story: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/thailand-beach-murders-men-accused-5984017

-- Mirror 2015-07-02

[Manbing]

Barking up the wrong tree there.

The scapegoating is not being arranged by those families or for the benefit of those families.

May as well pray to Buddha

[BuaBS]

Wasn't some evidence sent to the UK ? What ever happened with that ?

[Bob12345]

Nothing new in this article, but I am happy to see the media in the UK is still on this.

[HeijoshinCool]

Dead men tell no tales.

One wonders what the prosecutor knew.

[SOTIRIOS]

...good luck....

...the charade was paid for and taken this far one guesses....

...so what chance of it being stopped now....in the name of justice especially....

[mmh8]

of course its in the interest of the family , what sort of closure is it knowing two young boys lives are going to be ruined in addition to your loved ones.

it should be in every ones interest that justice is done,

I would love to see a new video similar to evil man of krabi , then watch the officials make their own

[razer]

I wonder if New Scotland Yard will testify at the trial.

For every innocent person convicted a guilty person goes free.

[Transporter]

If these two innocent men are convicted then there is no justice here in Thailand. It will mean that the real scum sucking murdering rapist runt who's low class criminal family that pay the police will never be convicted.

My Thai wife says that there are lots of people on death island who know exactly what really happened but are too scared to speak up. Hopefully there will be at least one suicidal person who will be at the trial to tell the truth.

I am sick of hearing stories of everyday people getting away with murder because they can pay the police off.

I know a Thai/Chinese man here who killed someone while driving drunk and paid the police and one of his staff to do the jail time on his behalf. This kind of thing stinks. One day things will change and then people like this will be made to face their past with devastating consequences.

[jko]

1. If they are found guilty, few people will accept it, and Thailand's image will suffer

2. If they are found innocent, the credibility of the police investigation will be in tatters, and Thailand's image will suffer

If (2) applies, it will mean the murderer(s) will still be at large, and unpunished.

This is truly lamentable.

It has caused so much suffering, and dragged on for so long, I pray that justice prevails in the end.

[ABCer]

Who killed the GB tourists is a mystery.

The trial will either solve or add to the mystery.

Let's wait and see.

One question could and should've been asked by now:

"What will take for Koh Tao to lose the IDYLLIC title?"

[CNXTim]

The justice system does not require 65 million people to administer

Just a handful with courage and integrity - and yes, the LoS is also on trial here.

[optad]

How about the family? Terrible situation.

Cannot have faith their children's murders will be brought to justice and have to carry doubts about wrongful assignation of the crime.

[deecee10]

1. If they are found guilty, few people will accept it, and Thailand's image will suffer

2. If they are found innocent, the credibility of the police investigation will be in tatters, and Thailand's image will suffer

If (2) applies, it will mean the murderer(s) will still be at large, and unpunished.

This is truly lamentable.

It has caused so much suffering, and dragged on for so long, I pray that justice prevails in the end.

If both (1) and (2) apply, the murderers will still be at large and unpunished.

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

But the dear great leader have congratulated the police in doing such a good job in this case and we all know he never makes a mistake.

Now on a serious note there is no chance that they will ever get a fair trail, what will happen is the same as in the case of the couple that harvested mushrooms in the forest. This couple went into a national park forest and harvest mushrooms to eat. They were caught and sentence to 15 years in jail. There was a massive out cry but everyone stuck to their guns, because to make a u turn would mean losing face. The other day I read in a foreign written article that they have been released after 18 months in jail.

So these guys will be found guilty and get 20 years jail time and because they are Burmese they will serve 5 years and then would be released without any media coverage in Thailand. They will be deported and that will be the end of the story. If they were Thai they could have gotten off lighter, like the 17 year old girl that killed 9 people with her vehicle, she was sentenced to 3 years suspended sentence (which she appealed but lost).

[CockneyGit]

Who killed the GB tourists is a mystery.

The trial will either solve or add to the mystery.

Let's wait and see.

One question could and should've been asked by now:

"What will take for Koh Tao to lose the IDYLLIC title?"

''Who killed the GB tourists is a mystery.''

That's the issue, it's NOT a mystery. Everyone on the island knows exactly what happened.

[bipper]

Ricky Jackson in Cleveland. The Birmingham six and the Guildford four in the UK. Both classic cases of evidence tampering in the bastion of justice.

It doesn't only happen in Thailand, Perhaps for different reasons other than money but face loss hurts the powerful everywhere!

[Oziex1]

Dead men tell no tales.

One wonders what the prosecutor knew.

Who did it and the people who let him getaway.

[Smurkster]

Ricky Jackson in Cleveland. The Birmingham six and the Guildford four in the UK. Both classic cases of evidence tampering in the bastion of justice.

It doesn't only happen in Thailand, Perhaps for different reasons other than money but face loss hurts the powerful everywhere!

absolutely right! it aint just Thailand. I will be just as critical about the United States and Britain too when they screw up. Which they do frequently, Contemporary Britain to a lesser degree I would say

[bikerider21]

of course its in the interest of the family , what sort of closure is it knowing two young boys lives are going to be ruined in addition to your loved ones.it should be in every ones interest that justice is done, I would love to see a new video similar to evil man of krabi , then watch the officials make their own

We abolished the death penalty in England a long ago and for very good reasons. If the English parents have any humanity, they will ask the Thai authorities not to kill these young men.

[Sooo Upto Me]

These boys are innocent as we all know.

Let's just hope the case gets thrown out from lack of credible evidence.

I've been following this from day one, an its prob the worst case of injustice I've seen in the 8 yrs i've lived

here.

These islands are controlled by village mafia headmen who will do anything to protect their own. An as we all know

money talks over here.

Good luck boys, u gonna need it.

[stephenterry]

This latest statement doesn't bode well for the B2. Seems like their defence isn't up to much. I also consider that the parents can't 'demand' anything from the RTP, and unless they have privy to Andy Hall's findings they could well believe the B2 are guilty.

[cumgranosalum]

of course its in the interest of the family , what sort of closure is it knowing two young boys lives are going to be ruined in addition to your loved ones. it should be in every ones interest that justice is done, I would love to see a new video similar to evil man of krabi , then watch the officials make their own

in the search for closure there can be pitfalls.

if a family become convinced that a particular version is true there is a tendency then to "cling" to that version and it becomes very hard for those people to realise that they might have been incorrectly informed and the people they believed they hated are in reality innocent.

[bikerider21]

If these two innocent men are convicted then there is no justice here in Thailand. It will mean that the real scum sucking murdering rapist runt who's low class criminal family that pay the police will never be convicted.

My Thai wife says that there are lots of people on death island who know exactly what really happened but are too scared to speak up. Hopefully there will be at least one suicidal person who will be at the trial to tell the truth.

I am sick of hearing stories of everyday people getting away with murder because they can pay the police off.

I know a Thai/Chinese man here who killed someone while driving drunk and paid the police and one of his staff to do the jail time on his behalf. This kind of thing stinks. One day things will change and then people like this will be made to face their past with devastating consequences.

Americans won't understand this but we abolished the death penalty for 2 very good reasons.

1. It was not a deterrent

2. Many peopke were proved innocent after they had been hanged

[AlQaholic]

The Police need to fabricate more solid evidence so the case is watertight.Then there will be no doubts....

[bipper]

Ricky Jackson in Cleveland. The Birmingham six and the Guildford four in the UK. Both classic cases of evidence tampering in the bastion of justice.

It doesn't only happen in Thailand, Perhaps for different reasons other than money but face loss hurts the powerful everywhere!

absolutely right! it aint just Thailand. I will be just as critical about the United States and Britain too when they screw up. Which they do frequently, Contemporary Britain to a lesser degree I would say

According to Wiki the concept of "time immemorial" often applied in common law was defined as being any time before 6 July 1189.

What's Contemporary to you?

[mmh8]

 

Ricky Jackson in Cleveland. The Birmingham six and the Guildford four in the UK. Both classic cases of evidence tampering in the bastion of justice.

It doesn't only happen in Thailand, Perhaps for different reasons other than money but face loss hurts the powerful everywhere!

 

its very true, and justic was done a few years later when they realised they had just rounded up an Irish family in the uk cases I think, they also gave a little money - not even close to compensation but done none the less. it also aided recruitment for IRA and other groups at the time

none the less, while not so great for the victims of the tragedies above, this is the now, and can be dealt with, it is not the past yet, god willing cos those kids are only trying to earn a crust, maybe supporting family back home as is the way in this region.

[MockingJay]

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Boycott-Koh-Tao-Thailand/340091729498765

[stephenterry]

I think the two Burmese patsies have no chance. If I remember correctly word on the streets in Koh Tao was that 112m THB were paid to make all this go away by the island mafia family of the real murderers. The investigation was a shameful travesty, but the most disgusting part of all was when the parents of David and Hannah openly stated that they were "happy with the investigation and its outcome". They must be either braindead, blind and deaf or were threatened to keep their mouths shut, I don't know, but to me that was the most horrifying part of the whole sharade. May the true culprits, their families and all RTP officers involved in the cover up rot in hell!

More likely, they were fed misinformation provided by the RTP, and supported by UK officialism (if in fact it is false). For example, the B2's DNA matched that found in Hannah's body. They can't contest that, can they, without any independent testing? Or that the B2 were found in possession of the victims phone and sunglasses as stated by a 'credible' witness..

Without hearing any of the defence's evidence or counter to the prosecution case, the parents can only trust that there is no miscarriage of justice and the outcome is correct.

[Manbing]

Dead men tell no tales.

One wonders what the prosecutor knew.

According to his gay lover, he knew the line details and presumably the inside leg measurements of a new boyfriend.