[11], An autopsy revealed that both victims were hit by a hard object, resulting in head and face wounds. Miller had been a student at Victoria College, a fee-paying school on Jersey. Their senseless deaths sparked international outrage and raised questions about justice on Koh Tao. Dabid had also suffered deep lacerations to his skull before drowning in the shallow surf. [80][81], The Prime Minister of Thailand, Prayut Chan-o-cha, said "[foreign female tourists] think our country is beautiful and safe and they can do whatever they want, wear bikinis wherever they like. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. RIP, Christian May (@christianrmay) September 15, 2014. [90][91], The 2014 murders, along with other deaths and disappearances of tourists, led to British tabloids labelling Koh Tao as "Death Island". Both men, in their early 30s, are presumed to be serving their sentence in some Thailand prison. Thai king commutes sentence of UK pairs killers, Russia launches missile attacks on Ukraine, Explosion derails train in Russian border region, JP Morgan snaps up troubled US bank First Republic. Her family described her asvivacious and someone who loved living.Hannah was due to return to her postgraduate Speech and Language Therapy course at Essex University after her summer break. Killed in Thailand: British tourists Hannah Witheridge and David Miller. [10][32] They highlighted a British tourist who had shared a room with Miller as a suspect, labelling it a "crime of passion"; he became the subject of a nationwide manhunt before the police quickly dropped the lead. In December 2015, the pair were convicted of the murder and sentenced to death. 23 Sep 2014. But in the early hours of 15 September last year the pair, who were together on the beach after leaving a nearby bar, died next to each other in the most horrific circumstances. Thoughts and prayers with his family and friends. On tiny Koh Tao alone, there are some 2,000 expats alongside the 2,500 registered Thais, according to Mayor Chaiyan Turasakul. Photograph: PA. Rights groups have said the pair were used as scapegoats by the . [15] Public prosecutors initially rejected the report, asking for "certain flaws" to be fixed, more information to be supplied, and for the report to be made "more succinct". Irregular Burmese migrant workers were now required to register with the police in an attempt to discourage illegal workers and prevent bribery. 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. [28], Due to concerns the murders might affect foreign tourism into Thailand, the national authorities sought to expedite the investigation into the murders. A post-mortem examination showed she had been raped. Turtle Island's Dark Secret: The Case of Hannah Witheridge and David Miller The two men were convicted and sentenced in 2015 and the verdict was upheld by an appeals court in 2017 and the Supreme Court in August 2019. That would be absolutely in his character.. [34][35], According to the prosecution in the subsequent case, CCTV footage analysed by the police showed three individuals riding a motorcycle to 7-Eleven, where they bought beer and cigarettes, before going towards Sairee Beach. 2040 / 2557, Regional Court of Appeal VIII No. He was travelling Southeast Asia with a friend after completing a six-week work placement in Australia with a mining company,[6][8][9] and arrived in Thailand in August. Both victims had been hit several times on the head; Witheridge had been raped, and Miller had been drowned. In a wildly controversial move, the police forced the suspects to re-enact the murder in front of the media a move condemned by legal experts as prejudicing a fair hearing. Far from official oversight, de facto control falls to the owners of booming hospitality businesses that were developed on land originally obtained, via government concessions, for coconut plantations. This is troubling when set against the allegations of torture made by the accused. "We hope that these two murderers will now spend a very, very long time in jail where they cannot harm other families and will have time to reflect on the consequences of their acts.". David worked as an intern in the St Helier offices of the Australian mining company Consolidated Minerals. Theories abound on Koh Tao about who killed Miller and Witheridge. Did this woman die because her genitals were cut? Police and court systems were hacked or taken offline in the following days, and a stash of personal information obtained from the court's servers was posted publicly. Wai Phyo, a Real Madrid fanatic who idolizes FIFA world player of the year Cristiano Ronaldo, moves a virtually hairless top lip as he talks. [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. Some of these workers said they can earn more money in Thailand compared to Myanmar. Witheridge, 23, from Great Yarmouth, a seaside town on the English east coast, had been raped and killed by blows to the head. [62] They were both also charged with entering the country illegally, to which Wai Phyo had already confessed. Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo are two of an estimated 2 million irregular Burmese migrants, along with smaller numbers from neighboring Cambodia and Laos, currently working low-paid jobs in comparatively thriving Thailand. [54] They argued that the defendants intended to kill Miller, using a hoe to hit him multiple times on the head. They also. Typically, they work seven days a week for a pittance, sleeping in bamboo shacks erected in jungle clearances. Read about our approach to external linking. The children always loved her. [11] The two met in Koh Tao while staying at the same hotel. Two Burmese workers were sentenced to death in 2015, after being found guilty of killing David Miller, 24, of Jersey, and Hannah Witheridge, 23, of Norfolk. T he brutal murder of British tourists Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, on the Thai resort island of Koh Tao, has reverberated around the world.. Beach cleaners discovered the Britons . (Facebook). Koh Tao is very safe, says Mayor Chaiyan. The island is known as a haven for scuba divers. Hannah Witheridge was a college student at the University of Essex and lived there, according to her Facebook page. Miss Witheridge, a University of Essex student from Hemsby in Norfolk, and Mr Miller, a civil and structural engineering graduate, from Jersey, were bludgeoned to death. [5][6] Both were students who were backpacking in Thailand. So sad to hear that young man murdered in Thailand was Jerseyman David Miller. "[56] Attempts to appeal the sentence to the High Court in 2017 were unsuccessful. Feuding here is common and vicious. Write to Charlie Campbell at charlie.campbell@time.com. The secret mine that hid the Nazis' stolen treasure. (modern). But in Thailand, the police perform the entire process. According to reports, both men were 22-year-old illegal migrant workers from Rakhine, Myanmar, who worked in the hospitality industry. [1], A defence team from Bangkok, composed of nearly 20 lawyers, were only permitted half an hour to meet the men; a request by the defence to delay the hearing and allow more time to prepare was denied by a judge at the Koh Samui Provincial Court. Naked bodies of two British tourists found on Thai beach | PIX11 Murdered backpacker's family fight against of attackers death Telegraph.co.uk. However, the investigators quickly dismissed him as a suspect. They also pointed out several mistakes the incompetent investigators committed during the probe and alleged the officers restored to torture to make the defendants admit to the crime. Zaw Lin, as pimply as any teen, chats eagerly of his love of Manchester United and star Portuguese winger Nani. Its something but its not enough, he says. Scared is right. 2040 / 2557", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Koh_Tao_murders&oldid=1150069590, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 16 April 2023, at 05:03. [39] Following an interrogation, during which police say Zaw Lin admitted he had entered the country illegally, Zaw Lin was arrested and his clothes and motorcycle were seized as evidence. He was ultimately arrested a few hours later while hiding on the vessel. Nevertheless, few have rallied to the defense of the accused. After the court ordered the DNA to be tested again on July 10, the head of Thailands Central Institute of Forensic Science found that the DNA sample on the hoe did not match the defendants. Complaining about wrongdoing may invite official questions and demands for passports and documentation. On Sept. 15, one of the occupants of that same room A5, Hannah Witheridge, was found bludgeoned to death in their midst alongside fellow British tourist David Miller, just a short stumble from her door. News reports stated officers rounded up200 alleged suspects, most migrant workers, and used mass DNA testing. Lin and Phyo (also known asWin Zaw Htun)were sentenced to death for the murder of Mr Miller and the murder and rape of Ms Witheridge. The episode tries to deconstruct the complex case for the listeners as it narrates the incidents chronologically and questions several alleged incompetencies in the murder probe. British backpacker Thailand murders: What happened to David Miller and According to the BBC, staff from the British embassy left for Koh Tao soon after the news broke of the murders. [14][22] The police moved the bodies to prevent them being swept up in the rising tide. Miller, a year older and from Jersey, one of the U.K.s Channel Islands, had likewise suffered deep lacerations to his skull before drowning in the shallow surf. 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". Few of the visitors on Sairee Beach today are even aware the murders took place. The Supreme Court of Thailandupheld the sentence in August 2019. [10], Witheridge and Miller travelled and arrived on the island separately on 25 August. Hannah Witheridge & David Miller Murders: Where Are Zaw Lin & Wai Phyo
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