A senior Thai police forensics expert today gave evidence on the injuries suffered by Islander David Miller (24) and 23-year-old Hannah Witheridge from Norfolk before he showed the court graphic images of their bodies.
Mr Witheridge’s father broke down as the photographs of his daughter lying near rocks on Sairee Beach were displayed.
The evidence was given during the third day of the trial of two Burmese bar workers, Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo, both 22, who are accused of murdering the pair in September.
Speaking to journalists outside the court in Koh Samui, Mr Miller’s father Ian, who has travelled to watch the case with his wife Sue and son Michael, said the trial had been difficult for the family.
‘We came out with an open mind. We are specifically keeping an open mind. We came here for David… it’s been hard, very hard. We won’t comment on the trial process. We’ll be dignified for David,’ he said.
Meanwhile Andy Hall, foreign affairs adviser for the Migrant Workers Rights Network, which has been working closely with defence lawyers, said on social media this morning that he expects a decision on the re-testing of DNA that is available to be made ‘by the end of today’.
During yesterday’s hearing confusion arose over DNA evidence recovered from the crime scene after Thai police Lieutenant Colonel Somsak Nurod told judges that the forensics ‘may have been destroyed’.
It follows repeated requests from defence lawyers for the DNA, which the prosecution claim holds incriminating evidence against the defendants, to be re-analysed. Judges had been due to make a decision on whether the DNA should be re-examined this week.
Khunying Porntip Rojanasunan, the head of Thailand’s Central Institute of Forensic Science, has said the retesting of DNA is not common in the country, and that is why they were unsure whether it could be analysed again.
‘We will have to see the conditions of the evidence first,’ she said.
In a statement Thai police General Somis Poompanmoung said the media has misreported the loss of forensic evidence and added that the prosecution’s case relied upon more than ‘just DNA’.
The defendants deny charges of murder, rape and robbery. The trial is due to continue on 22 July. If found guilty the pair could face death by injection.
