The defence have until today to wrap up their case but chief lawyer Nakhon Chomphupat said they had experienced problems convincing witnesses to testify as some feared retribution. A verdict is due to be delivered in October.
Andy Hall, foreign affairs advisor for the Migrant Workers Rights Network, tweeted to say that judges asked the defence at the end of yesterday’s trial if their witnesses testimony would be be completed by today.
‘The judge will rule on the length of trial extension tomorrow and the judges, prosecution and defence lawyers will then agree on mutual dates.’
Burmese migrants Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo are accused of killing former Victoria College student Mr Miller (24) and Miss Witheridge (23), from Norfolk, on the Thai island of Koh Tao last September.
They face the death penalty if found guilty.
Defence lawyers claim their clients are being used as scapegoats but prosecutors say they have concrete evidence linking the pair to the crime.
‘There’s a problem, our informers lack courage to stand as witnesses because some of them still work on Koh Tao.’
Meanwhile, the family of Miss Witheridge have returned to court for the final days of her alleged killers’ trial.
In a brief statement the family said they were there to represent their ‘beautiful girl’.
‘Our world changed forever on 15 September 2014,’ they said.
‘Words cannot begin to explain the journey we have endured, a journey that has no end.’
‘We hope that the reporting of the case offers both Hannah and David their dignity and we ask that we are afforded our privacy to digest the case and the evidence being presented.
‘This story bears no happy ending; their lives were ended brutally that night without sense or reason.’
It is understood that Mr Miller’s family have not returned to Thailand.
The defendants 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.
