Prosecutors and senior Thai police investigators have alleged that a man captured on one of hundreds of security cameras dotted near the section of Sairee Beach on the island of Koh Tao was defendant Wai Phyo.
During the hearing at a court in Koh Saumi yesterday a defence witness said a report from British forensics specialist Stephen Cole, which compared the gait of the defendant and the man pictured on the footage, has ‘categorically proven’ it is not Wai Phyo.
Andy Hall, foreign affairs advisor for the Migrant Workers Rights Network, who are working closely with defence lawyers, presented the evidence during his testimony to the court.
Mr Miller (24), a former Victoria College student, and Miss Witheridge (23), who was from Norfolk, were found dead last September.
Burmese migrants Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo are accused of their murder.
Mr Hall reportedly told judges: ‘The man’s face in the CCTV images is not clear so his identity cannot be proven.
But Mr Stephen Cole of Acume Forensics has done an extensive analysis of the gait of Wai Phyo and the man in the picture using only the video evidence supplied by the prosecution.
It has proven categorically that Wai Phyo could not be the so-called running man.’
The evidence comes as defence lawyers have reportedly lodged a formal request to judges for more time to prove their clients are innocent.
In total 18 days have been set for witness testimony, 12 days for the prosecution and six for the defence.
The trial is due to finish tomorrow and a verdict is expected to be given next month.
During the hearing, Mr Hall also focused on what he described as discrepancies between the Thai autopsy report on the victims’ bodies and post-mortems carried out by British experts.
Prosecutors claim they have credible DNA evidence, recovered from the body of Miss Witheridge, linking the defendants to the crime.
However the defence team say the report detailing that evidence has been poorly prepared ‘scribbled down in handwriting and sloppy’.
The defendants, who face the death penalty if found guilty, deny charges of murder, rape and robbery.
The trial continues.
- September 15 2014: The bodies of Islander David Miller (24) and 23-year-old Hannah Witheridge are found on the Thai island of Koh Tao.
- October 3 2014: Two Burmese men, Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo, both 21 at the time, are arrested and charged with the murders following DNA analysis. The pair then confessed to the killings.
- October 3 2014: Hundreds of Islanders attend the funeral of David Miller at Trinity Church
- October 8 2014: A petition emerges on line calling for British detective to launch their own investigation into the murders following allegations that the Burmese defendants may have been set up
- October 9 2014: The defendants withdraw their confessions and claim they were tortured by Thai police
- October 20 – 23 2014: The UK Foreign Office announce that British detectives will travel to Thailand to oversee the investigation following an intervention from Prime Minister David Cameron.
- November 28 2014: The defendants are denied bail by a court in Koh Samui
- December 9 2014: The families of David Miller and Hannah Witheridge express their relief that the investigation is progressing but call for a fair and transparent trial
- December 26 2014: The defendants appear at court in Koh Samui for the start of their trial. However it is postponed until July to allow for more witnesses to come forward.
- February 19 2015: A lawyer representing the defendants calls for witnesses including other migrant works and British tourists to come forward
- April 30 2015: Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo appear in court for the first time since December. The judge grants the defence teams request for DNA evidence to be re-examined.
