[38] Police entered the home the next day; only one of the men, Zaw Lin, was present. [51][56][57] They argued that the defendants, since they were vulnerable as illegal migrant workers, were scapegoated by the police for the crime. With crystal-clear waters, perfect sandy beaches, palm trees and great nightlife. Book Koh Tao Cabana, Koh Tao on Tripadvisor: See 884 traveller reviews, 2,154 candid photos, and great deals for Koh Tao Cabana, ranked #14 of 194 hotels in Koh Tao and rated 4 of 5 at Tripadvisor. Pathologists and legal experts criticised the police for mishandling the evidence, allowing contamination of the crime scene and failing to use experts to collect forensic evidence. [1][11][18] A bloody hoe, believed to be the murder weapon, and a wooden club were found near the bodies,[19][4][14] along with three cigarette butts and a used condom. All times AEDT (GMT +11). At the end of the trial's third day, the judge said police had informed him all the samples taken on the island were "finished" - meaning they could not be analysed again. We beg that Hannah and David are afforded privacy and dignity through the removal of these pointless and insensitive reminders. International experts criticized the DNA testing done by the hospital at the time with claims that samples were tampered with in order to falsely incriminate two Burmese workers. HARROWING photos of the corpses of English backpackers Hannah Witheridge and David Miller have surfaced online, traumatising their families. In September 2014, two European backpackers, Hannah Witheridge and David Miller were found murdered on Sairee Beach on Thailands island of Koh Tao. A royal commutation does not require an admission of guilt. "There has been lots of chit-chat on the internet. Our kids all died on Koh Tao 'death island' - cops claim they were accidents but we think they were MURDERED Aliki Kraterou Published: 13:58, 19 Mar 2022 Updated: 15:34, 19 Mar 2022 The. Thailand is one of the worlds most popular tourist destinations with around 35 million visitors each year and promotes itself as the Land of Smiles. The government is sensitive to criticism that could undermine the countrys reputation. And the same goes for Luke Millers mum Sara Cotton. [47][75][12] Human Rights Watch said the case was "profoundly disturbing" and called for the verdict to be reviewed in a "transparent and fair appeal process". [87][88] The protests angered Thailand's prime minister, who believed the demonstrations were a plot "instigated" to hurt the government. Koh Tao (also Ko Tao) - literally Turtle Island in the Chumphon Archipelago. We'll be dignified for David. Since then the Samui Times has been inundated with . Some sources also refer to Wai Phyo as Win Zaw Htun. Bergen Area, Norway. [1][4][24] Witheridge's body indicated she had been raped. A coroner ruled in 2017 said that there is "no evidence" to suggest Luke was murdered. Ben Harrington 2012; There is an alternative bus and ferry service run by Songserm, which is the cheapest way to get from Bangkok to Koh Tao. UK reporter Suzanne Buchanan has thoroughly investigated the cases alongside the deaths of Belgian Elise Dellemange, Swiss Hans Peter Suter and French Dimitri Povse -who also were also found dead under mysterious circumstances. "Another one of my sons was there with him, he was absolutely distraught looking at the police just laughing at him. Owner of Martin Totland Freelance LLC, specializing in event photography, freelance journalism, and Norwegian . His family accused the Thai police of a cover-up. However, a lawyer for Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo told the BBC that the pair had not admitted their guilt when their death sentences were commuted. [66], On 24 December 2015, Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo were found guilty of murdering Witheridge and Miller by the three judges, and were sentenced to death. Hotels near The Heart of Chechnya Hotels near State Gallery named after A. It leaves Khao San Songserm at either 1800 or 1900. Coincidentally, pictures of Bernd with a snake were to be found online. Deaths have been explained away by the authorities as unfortunate accidents or suicides. Alexandr Bucspun, 33, from Moldova, was found dead in the sea off Had Sai Ree on Koh Tao on Tuesday, October 9, 2018. One of the men Mau Mau resided nearby. Six weeks on . Thai police say the man on the left matches the one seen acting suspiciously on CCTV A Scottish man is being kept in protective custody in Thailand after a photo he took could identify the murderer. [1][15][16] Miller's body was found floating in the water, and Witheridge's on the beach;[17] the bodies lay approximately 20 metres apart and 30 metres away from their hotel (Ocean View Bungalows). [5][40] The commutation was welcomed by Miller's family. [95] The mayor of the island, Chaiyan Turasakul, announced a new police station and staffed it with 40 full-time officers, compared to five previously. Both victims had been hit several times on the head; Witheridge had been raped, and Miller had been drowned. Hi there! Some were murdered, some died in suspicious circumstances and some died in avoidable accidents. Ten days after he went missing from Sairee Beach on Koh Tao, the body of Swiss tourist Hans Peter Suter, 44, was washed ashore at Talay Ngam beach in Lang Suan district of Chumphon province on Tuesday, November 18, 2014. The second man, Wai Phyo,[a] was believed to have left the island by boat the previous night. I was told on more than one occasion that I needed to take down this stuff from the paper. They followed the animal and discovered that it had been feeding on Elise's remains, which were found among rocks behind the Tanote Family Bay Resort. In January 2014, 25-year-old Nick Pearson was found dead in the sea below a cliff while visiting the island. Taupin was ultimately not allowed to testify by the defence, and these issues were not raised by the defence until their closing statement. "So my suspicions are that it was a mugging that went wrong. 2040 / 2557", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Koh_Tao_murders&oldid=1135707447, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 26 January 2023, at 10:00. The DNA analysis in the case, which was not subject to independent oversight or verification, was provided to the court as a one-page summary with four supporting pages, some of it handwritten with amendments. Hotel owner Rakeshwar Sachathamakul has been found dead along with his wife in a luxury resort on Koh Tao. On Thursday the 29 th of August 2019, the Supreme Court of Thailand handed down its decision to uphold the death penalties for Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo, the Burmese migrant workers found guilty of the rape and murder of British holidaymaker Hannah Witheridge and the murder of fellow countryman David Miller in September 2014 on Koh Tao in Thailand. But "Turtle Island" has its dark side. Thai authorities claimed he was drunk and fell, but his family believes he was murdered.. Four months later, eight bodies were found after a cartel murder spree. [1][47] The national police chief, Somyot Poompanmoung, denied that torture was involved in the confessions. Administratively it is a subdistrict (tambon) of Ko Pha-ngan District (amphoe) of Surat Thani Province. The mum of Ben Harrington Pat was never convinced by the local police's explanation that her 32-year-old son broke his neck when he crashed into an electricity pylon on a night-time moped ride in August 2012. Koh Tao--a small island in the Gulf of Thailand, surrounded by pristine beaches, swathed in sunshine, and a mecca for tourists, divers and backpackers. The team were only allowed to spend two hours on Koh Tao and did not meet with the suspects or defence. [31] Media reports speculated that was because the defence was wary of calling on foreign experts fearing it could appear as undermining the Thai justice system, and could bias the judges against their case. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The evidence in the form of this Unendorsed Report would have been ruled as inadmissible in US courts and other Western courts. Two weeks later, two illegal Burmese migrant workers were blamed for the deaths, primarily on the basis of DNA evidence, and confessed following an hours-long interrogation. Bernd had also recently separated from his wife, Oey, a Koh Tao native, with whom he had a seven-year-old daughter, Bene, who had been living for the last two years with his sister, Monica, in Germany. Hannah was a fun, vibrant and beautiful young woman who will be sorely missed by all who knew her. Elise had been traveling around Asia for two years, and before her death had been living at a yoga and tantra retreat on Koh Phangan. The owner of a 5 star hotel in Phuket and his wife were found dead at the bottom of their hotel swimming pool on the island of Koh Tao on Friday afternoon. Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong had some stern words for China over any role it might play in the war in Ukraine. Hanspeter Suter 2014; A mistake that many forensic experts say jeopardized the entire investigation.Throughout the investigation and criminal trial, the Thai government and police were heavily criticized by human rights organizations, legal experts, and the media. [4][11][14] Their bodies were discovered on Sairee Beach a few hours later, between 4 and 5am, by a mute Burmese beach cleaner. [1] Receiving half a million visitors each year,[1] Koh Tao is especially popular with backpackers and known for its marine life and scuba diving. The father of murdered British backpacker Hannah Witheridge has wept as graphic photos of her body lying on a Thai beach were shown in court. The head of the country's Central Institute of Forensic Science found that the DNA on the hoe did not match the defendants. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. To see all content on The Sun, please use the Site Map. Due to the nature of her passing, our beautiful girl has had little privacy. I am a legal practitioner in Perth, Western Australia who has been following events on Koh Tao very closely since the time of the murders of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller on 15 September 2014. The hoe was then used to knock Witheridge unconscious, after which the defendants used force to hold her down and took turns raping her, before killing her with the hoe. The autopsy stated he had drowned. Although Koh Tao is one of the most beautiful islands in Thailand, it has always been shrouded by a dark mystery. Thailands prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, questioned the attire and behavior of foreign female tourists shortly after the killing of two British backpackers, David Miller and Hannah Witheridge on the island in 2014. Get latest News Information, Articles on Thailand Vs Indonesia Odi Live Streaming Updated on December 27, 2018 19:20 with exclusive Pictures, photos & videos on Thailand Vs Indonesia Odi Live Streaming at Latestly.com - Page 18 The bricklayer from Newport, Isle of Wight, was found at the bottom of the pool at the Sunset Bar at Sairee Beach in January 2016. Derby coroner Louise Pinder said there was not enough evidence to say how he died and recorded an open verdict. [4], The victims of the murders were Hannah Witheridge, a 23-year-old from Hemsby, England, and David Miller, a 24-year-old from Jersey, a Crown Dependency. [48][35] 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. Bernds family in Ingolstadt, Germany, said that the authorities told them he had died of heart failure or had been bitten by a snake. [1][96], Although tourist arrivals to Koh Tao dropped in the months immediately following the murders, there was little lasting effect on tourism to the island.[92]. The Sun website is regulated by the Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), Our journalists strive for accuracy but on occasion we make mistakes. [53], The prosecution's case focused on findings of the police and medical examiner, with an emphasis on the DNA evidence. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. British woman, Christina Annesley, 23, was found in a room at the In Touch Resort on Jan 21, 2015. [51][21] The trial was attended by external observers, including representatives from Amnesty International and the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. [59] The defence struggled to find members of the public willing to testify at the trial, as many feared retribution,[1][60] hence their alibi was not considered convincing by the court. Hannah Witheridge 2014; The economy of the island is almost exclusively centered on tourism, especially scuba diving. 679215 Registered office: 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF. A police officer told the trial of the severe injuries Miss Witheridge suffered and evidence she had been raped. A. Kadyrov Hotels near Museum of the Chechen Republic Hotels near The Flower Park Hotels near Visit Chechnya Hotels near Grozny City Observation Deck Hotels near Church of Archangel Michael Hotels near Makhmud Esambayev Avenue Hotels near Museum of Akhmat Khadzhy Kadyrov Hotels near Monument to the Fighters of the . In 2014, Koh Tao was the site of the brutal double murders of two British backpackers, but theirs weren't the only suspicious backpacker deaths. They said Wai Phyo found the mobile phone dropped on the beach, and so he kept it. Two migrant workers from Myanmar on death row for the 2014 murder of two British backpackers on Koh Tao have had their sentences commuted to life in . "As long as I can breathe I will keep trying to find answers.". [25] There were no known eyewitnesses to the murders. The island of Koh Tao is located in Southern Thailand. BBC correspondent Jonah Fisher said Miss Witheridge's father and brother sat with their heads bowed as the evidence was presented in court but continued listening. Again when Christina Annesley died police didnt interview the last person she was seen with while she was alive. Available for both RF and RM licensing. [33][34] Over 200 individuals on the island, many of them migrant workers, were tested in mass DNA testing. Zaw Lin, front, and Wai Phyo (also known as Win Zaw Htun), rear, arrive at the court in Koh Samui, AOC under investigation for Met Gala dress, Mother who killed her five children euthanised, Bakhmut attacks still being repelled, says Ukraine, Zoom boss Greg Tomb fired without cause, Alex Murdaugh jailed for life for double murder, The children left behind in Cuba's exodus. Its just really shoddy investigation work- I personally think theres something going on on that island. See the latest list of Exclusive members-only articles on StrangeOutdoors.com, https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30320196. The body had to be identified using dental records and previous X-rays. The family claimed the circumstances surrounding his death and the local police's refusal to co-operate with them have led them to believe the death is "suspicious". Most mainstream media provide only superficial accounts of what has been happening on the island and their published information is often inaccurate and understated the seriousness of the situation. [7][12], Miller and Witheridge were last seen at a bar called AC Bar[13] with friends at a party on Sunday night with around 50 people mostly foreign tourists before they left together after 1am. She added: "They didn't do any investigation at all. ", Mrs Miller said: "It's been hard, very hard. Witnesses said items belonging to the Moldovan were seen in the early hours of Tuesday morning and police were alerted. Koh Tao murders 1 language Sairee Beach The Koh Tao murders involved the death of two British tourists in Thailand in 2014. Although both of his hands were tied behind the back, the police said he could have done this himself as the rope was tied to one hand and a loop was made so the other hand could be inserted. [3] The murders were the first cases of homicide on the island in over eight years. "They won't come forward because they know something is going to happen to them," he added. Pol Maj Gen Pornchai Sutheerakhun, director of the Institute of Forensic Science at Police General Hospital in Bangkok, said There were wounds around the neck due to the hanging and some non-fatal bruises in the head, and no drugs were found in the body. Post-mortems found that Hannah had died from head wounds, while engineering student Mr Miller suffered severe blows to his head and drowned. Zaw Lin was not convicted of this charge because he held a work permit for the two years preceding the murders. Samui Times defended its reporting in an online post. [48], The guilty verdict resulted in widespread protests in Myanmar. Part of the reason for coming out, was to go to Koh Tao. Why are the police not thoroughly investigating, why are they changing facts? It will take a bit of time to find loopholes to appeal. It has long had a reputation as a home for organized crime, corruption and as a place where the police protected local interests. [63] They plead not guilty to the charge at the trial, but Wai Phyo changed his plea to guilty during the proceedings. Resting in the Gulf of Thailand, a two-hour ferry ride north of Koh Samui, Koh Tao is best known for its incredible marine life, which over the years has attracted a small but buoyant expat. "I got him home and they had a proper postmortem - most of his bones were broken but the one bone that wasn't broken was his neck and there was no evidence of his face looking towards his back. British Bricklayer Luke Miller, 26, was found at the bottom of a swimming pool at the Sunset Bar at Sairee Beach on January 6, 2016. 24, after their battered bodies were found on a beach on the southern resort island of . We have done our own investigation and we are sure she was murdered. Khao San Lomprayah - 2100 arrives Koh Tao 0845 > check prices for Bangkok to Koha Tao night bus and ferry and book now. Koh Tao Murder - Thai Police, their scapegoats and tourist trade - Exposed by AnonymousThis video goes into the deep facts of the recent Koh Tao Island murder of David Miller and Hannah. Lightboxes. Suter had been a regular snorkeler and his death was totally unexplained. Ms Taupin did note however that the document that the prosecution relied upon was an Unendorsed Report in that it had no seal or stamp certifying that it had been produced by an accredited laboratory and in accordance with international standards. CONFESSION WITHDRAWN: Burmese suspect claims he was beaten, tortured by police. A few days later, staff checked her room to discover her mobile phone, passport and camera had all been left behind. The Koh Tao murders had a big impact on the island, it left a very deep impression! Virat Asavachin (Mr Ban) 2002; The family has contested the police version of events. The police quickly closed the inquiry, stating that he had drowned whilst swimming. Phone records showed that Elise called her mother on Skype on April 17, 2017, before leaving Koh Phangan on a Ferry on April 19. While police claimed that she hanged herself, mystery surrounded her death, as it was revealed she used a fake name at the hostel she was staying. They told me 'you need to stop reporting on it if you want to stay here, they are getting fed up with you now, No one put a gun to my head but I was told by multiple sources that if I didnt stop reporting on it thered be trouble- it wasnt safe for me anymore.". "We'll go with the flow as much as we can. They had no prior criminal records. [7] Witheridge had completed undergraduate studies in education at the University of East Anglia and had started post-graduate studies in speech and language therapy at the University of Essex. The country's prime minister, who had been phoning the national police chief daily for updates on the investigation, said "this should not have happened at all, as it will affect Thailand in the eyes of the international community". Buy images; Sell images; Lightboxes; The investigation of the Witheridge and Miller slayings was widely criticized as the crime scene was not properly secured, and questions were also raised about subsequent DNA testing. It is believed they were tortured, then burned, before being chopped . The Koh Tao murders involved the death of two British tourists in Thailand in 2014. 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.
Oster Roaster Insert, Noelani Elementary School Teacher Death, Seacoast Grace Church Singers, Articles K