Yesterday, Dr Pornthip Rojanasunand, director of Thailand’s Central Institute for Forensic Science, announced that three more members of the organisation would testify in court as they were involved in the examination of the defendants and the testing of key DNA last September.
The DNA expert, who has been nicknamed ‘Dr Death’ after she worked on a number of high-profile cases in Thailand, told the court in Koh Samui earlier this month that DNA recovered from the alleged murder weapon – a garden hoe – did not match the defendants.
She told the court that her tests had revealed one full and one partial DNA profile – both male – but that neither matched DNA samples given by Burmese bar workers Zaw Lin or Wai Phyo, who potentially face the death penalty if found guilty.
Mr Miller, a former Victoria College student, and Miss Witheridge, who was from Norfolk, were found dead on Sairee beach on 15 September.
Meanwhile, Nakhon Chomphuchat, chief lawyer for the defendants, has revealed that a DNA collection expert from Australia was also due to testify in court today.
The prosecution say that DNA evidence recovered from the bodies of Mr Miller and Miss Witheridge match that of the defendants.
But Mr Chomphuchat added that the defence wished to focus on ‘whether the DNA collection is in line with international standards’.
And the lawyer also said that on Thursday members of the National Human Rights Commission, the Lawyers Council of Thailand and the Burmese Embassy will testify in court regarding alleged human rights issues surrounding the treatment of the defendants.
The court has heard allegations that the defendants were tortured into confessing to the crime, a confession they later retracted.
The two accused deny charges of murder, rape and robbery.
The trial continues.
