Appeals Court upholds death penalty for Koh Tao murders

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Appeals Court upholds death penalty for Koh Tao murders

By Sasiwan Mokkhasen

 

Wai Phyo, at left, and Zaw Lin are paraded in front of the media on Oct. 3, 2014, shortly after their arrest on Koh Tao.

 

KOH SAMUI — The Appeals Court on Wednesday announced its decision to uphold the death sentences for two migrant workers convicted of a brutal 2014 double homicide on Koh Tao.

 

In its ruling, made secretly on Feb. 23, the Koh Samui court said evidence presented by the state in the original trial was adequate and reliable, and therefore declined to overturn the December 2015 verdict condemning two Myanmar men to die for the deaths of two British tourists.

 

The ruling was came as a surprise to defense lawyers, who said they had no knowledge the court made a ruling last week, which it apparently relayed to their clients without notification.

 

Full story: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/crimecourtscalamity/courts/2017/03/01/appeals-court-upholds-death-sentences-koh-tao-murders/

 

 

-- © Copyright Khaosod English 2017-03-01

[sobriquet]

I was hoping these two would be pardoned. Nothing about the way their case was handled could be called just, no matter how innocent/guilty you think they are. Total disregard of human rights. 

[Jai Dee]

Men's death sentences upheld in Thailand backpacker murders appeal

Jonathan Head

BBC South East Asia Correspondent

Posted at16:41

An appeal court in Thailand has upheld  the death sentences against two Burmese men for the murders of two British tourists in 2014. 

PA

Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo were convicted of the murders of Hannah Witheridge, 23, from Hemsby near Great Yarmouth, and David Miller, 24, of Jersey, in December 2015.

The controversial investigation was marred by questions over the quality of the DNA testing on which the conviction was based. 

Lawyers for the two men can now appeal to the Supreme Court.

 

Source

[sharecropper]

Totally disgusting but sadly expected. Rotten from top to bottom.

[nikmar]

"In its ruling, made secretly on Feb. 23, the Koh Samui court said evidence presented by the state in the original trial was adequate and reliable"

 

NOT adequate and NOT reliable.

[clockman]

Justice is a distant bell, rarely heard in Thailand.

[chainarong]

Two  startling words come  from the appeal judge, adequate and reliable , not to mention the secrecy of the decision..............................................

[007cableguy]

Shame on Thailand and the corrupt people who run this so called justice system !


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[robertthebruce]

How sad is this...

 

I Hope the World hears of this and , justice is done.....

 

 

[clockman]

But for them to condemn there own. It was never going to happen. Island mafia.

[Khun Han]

Meanwhile, the real killers are living the life of Riley. Truly, utterly disgusting behahiour by the Thai State. They don't even begin to understand the meaning of the word shame.

[CGW]

Lets see how the "fair & independent" BBC handle this? bet they don't upset anyone!

[AGareth2]

the problem with overturning the verdict is that it would mean they were scapegoats

[cyberfarang]

No point in speculating because the fate of the B2 has already been decided. Now it`s just a toss of the coin whether it will be a life sentence or the death penalty. Whichever way this goes the B2 will never see freedom again.

[petermik]

7 hours ago, Khun Han said:

Meanwhile, the real killers are living the life of Riley. Truly, utterly disgusting behahiour by the Thai State. They don't even begin to understand the meaning of the word shame.

They are not concerned what others think of them......unless it hits them in the pocket 

[Encid]

2 minutes ago, scorecard said:

 

Agree.

 

Can they take the case one step further to the Supreme Court? Does anybody know?

It would appear so.

20 minutes ago, Jai Dee said:

Lawyers for the two men can now appeal to the Supreme Court.

 

[Khun Han]

2 minutes ago, scorecard said:

 

Agree.

 

Can they take the case one step further to the Supreme Court? Does anybody know?

 

I think that was always the long-term plan. The Defence knew they were going to get nothing from the same lot which ran the disgraceful trial. They just had to get this stage out of the way.

[darksidedog]

Having had experience with the legal system here, I am not overly surprised that this was the decision of the Appeal Court, or Ooton.

This is a big case and the judges at Appeal will not want to overturn the verdict of the first court.

I am also not surprised the lawyers weren't informed. Regularly peoople at court have to try to contact the lawyer to tell them the day has come.

The court tells the prison to bring the two to court, but it is then up to them to try to contact their lawyer once at court.

My experience with the Supreme Court (Deega), is better, and to my mind, the only court in this country that actually dispenses real justice.

They are very slow to come up with a decision and do not always get it right, but I felt from Day One, that this case would go there before there was any chance of an acquittal.

No one I know believes these two guys are guilty, and I wish them the best of luck at "Deega."

 

 

Edited March 1, 2017 by darksidedog
typo

[DiscoDan]

The right decision shame people still believe the lies that the activists have told.

[Hutch68]

It was the way it was always going to be, they were there, they know who did it. The death penalty is the only way to silence them forever and then the problem is gone for good. I feel sorry for them but I'm dammed sure they were involved but not the killers.

[007cableguy]

The right decision shame people still believe the lies that the activists have told.

So your the one in a handful who believes in this charade ?...Oh dear!


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[Hutch68]

3 minutes ago, DiscoDan said:

The right decision shame people still believe the lies that the activists have told.

Rubbish and you know it.

[darksidedog]

3 minutes ago, DiscoDan said:

The right decision shame people still believe the lies that the activists have told.

Let me just question that for one moment.

The DNA on the murder weapon did not belong to either of them, so how did they do the murder?

The other DNA evidence was discredited by the countrys leading expert. Wrongly handled, wrongly stored, incorrectly processed for the "match."

There was no other evidence against them.

Please tell us your logic as to how the verdict is safe.

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Death penalty upheld for two migrant workers on Koh Tao murder case

 

The Appeals Court has upheld the death penalty handed down by the lower court on two Burmese migrant workers for the murder of British backpackers David Miller and Hannah Witheridge on Koh Tao in 2014.

 

The verdict of the Region 8 Appeals Court was read at Koh Samui provincial court in Surat Than province today (March 1) in the presence of the two convicts, Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo, public prosecutor Teerawuthi Prammahan and others.

 

The Appeals Court said it believed in the prosecutor’s evidence by considering all the evidence presented which are substantiated and convinced it to believe that the two defendants committed the offence without any doubt.

 

The court also dismissed the contention of the defendants that the evidence was incomplete, citing the absence of some documents and photos of some events.

 

On December 24, 2015, the Koh Samui provincial court sentenced Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo to death after finding them guilty of killing the two British backpackers and concealing their bodies to cover up the crime.

 

Full story: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/death-penalty-upheld-two-migrant-workers-koh-tao-murder-case/

 

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2017-03-01

[greenchair]

Yahoo. Guilty as sin. 

Justice was served for hannah who was left lying on the beach with her brain smashed to bits and violated in the worst possible way. 

I hope people give a thought for her whilst dishing out sympathy for those 2 sods. 

Well done thai police. 

[peterdarby]

26 minutes ago, Hutch68 said:

It was the way it was always going to be, they were there, they know who did it. The death penalty is the only way to silence them forever and then the problem is gone for good. I feel sorry for them but I'm dammed sure they were involved but not the killers.

There is no need to silence them as whatever they have to say nobody cares. It hasn't helped them so far, and it won't help them in the future. The only chance for them is in a court unconnected with the original trial, so the Supreme Court is their last and only hope. 

[StealthEnergiser]

Not unexpected   hopefully the Supreme court outcome  will be a different result

[Hutch68]

6 minutes ago, peterdarby said:

There is no need to silence them as whatever they have to say nobody cares. It hasn't helped them so far, and it won't help them in the future. The only chance for them is in a court unconnected with the original trial, so the Supreme Court is their last and only hope. 

And they will get the same verdict there so they can never leave Thailand and tell what really happened, like I said to silence them once and for all. I'll bet there are lots of people who cares about what they have to say because they know the truth because they were there and in some way or another was involved in it.

[DiscoDan]

42 minutes ago, 007cableguy said:

 

So your the one in a handful who believes in this charade ?...Oh dear!


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43 minutes ago, Hutch68 said:

Rubbish and you know it.

No actually looked into the case unlike you,

[evadgib]

21 minutes ago, greenchair said:

Yahoo. Guilty as sin. 

Justice was served for hannah who was left lying on the beach with her brain smashed to bits and violated in the worst possible way. 

I hope people give a thought for her whilst dishing out sympathy for those 2 sods. 

Well done thai police. 

Guilt or otherwise was not proven beyond reasonable doubt by playing pass-the-parcel with evidence wheeled into court in a shopping TROLLey!

Edited March 1, 2017 by evadgib