A Thai court on Thursday sentenced two Myanmar migrants to death for murdering a pair of British holidaymakers on a paradise 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, on the diving resort island of Koh Tao in southern Thailand.
“Both defendants are guilty of murder for which the penalty is the death sentence,” an unnamed judge told the court, adding they were also “found guilty of rape and conspiracy to hide the crime.”
The pair were grim faced as the verdict was read out while the mother of one of them cried from the gallery as the sentence was passed.
Both men, who arrived at the court with their hands and legs shackled, denied killing the British pair, whose battered bodies were found on a beach on September 15, 2014.
They 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.
Throughout the trial prosecutors said the evidence against the men was rock solid, including DNA traces found on Witheridge’s body as well as the suspects being in possession of Miller’s phone and sunglasses.
But the defence has accused the police of bungling their investigation and using the Myanmar migrants — both aged 22 — as scapegoats indicating they would appeal a guilty verdict.
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.
Miller’s parents and brother were at the court on Koh Samui, a larger island which neighbours Koh Tao.
But Witheridge’s relatives have not made the journey to Thailand.
A panel of two judges delivered the ruling after a trial that spanned months and heard harrowing testimony about the murders.
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.
– ‘Stay strong’ –
The defence disputed the forensic evidence as flawed and accused the police of torturing their clients into signing confessions, which they later retracted.
Their lawyers point to the fact the DNA found on the hoe did not match either of the suspects and say forensic evidence gathering techniques were riddled with errors.
An advisor to the defence team who visited the accused on Wednesday said the pair were ready for the verdict.
“Whatever the result, they will stay strong and they will move forward into the future,” Andy Hall of the Migrant Worker Rights Network told AFP.
The police probe has been dogged by accusations of incompetence.
In the hours after the bodies were found police failed to seal off the crime scene or close the island’s port.
Gruesome pictures of the victims’ bodies also quickly emerged online, piling on the misery of their distraught families.
Initially officers appeared to flounder in their quest for the perpetrators, with suspicion by turns falling on several other migrants, a backpacker seen drinking with the victims on the night they died, and the son of an influential village headman.
Police eventually arrested and charged Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Tun, also known as Wai Phyo.
Within days of their arrest Thai police said the pair had confessed. But the men soon retracted those confessions, insisting they were made under duress, a charge the police deny.
During the trial 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.
The murders stained Thailand’s reputation as a tourist haven but did not prompt a significant fall in visitor numbers in a sector that has remained buoyant despite the nation’s history of coups and conflict.