DNA GOT TWO MEN CONVICTED

In September 2014, the bodies of two Britains, backpackers Miss. Witheridge, 23from Norfolk, and Mr. Miller, 24, from Jersey, were found dead on an isolated beach on the Koh Tao island that is part of Thailand.

The Thai islands are some of Thailand’s biggest draw by attracting a large number of visitors each year, which means travelling by ferry that is s a good way to get on the island from the mainland. There is an extensive ferry network between the islands off the west coast, as well as in the Gulf of Thailand, so there’s a great deal of choices to those who traveled to Thailand.

Ko Tao is a small island in Thailand and is part of the Chumphon Archipelago on the western shore of the Gulf of Thailand. It covers an area of about 21 square miles. It is reached by a ferry.  For this reason, their beautiful beaches are more or less isolated.

Resting in the Gulf of Thailand, a two-hour ferry ride north of Koh Samui, Koh Tao is best known for its incredible marine life, which over the years has attracted a small but buoyant expat community of around 2,000 people, many of whom run dive centres, restaurants and B&Bs.  Alas, crime is prevalent on that Island. Long-time residents and business owners are met with fear, as heir lives would be in danger if they spoke on the record about the crimes on their island. Off the record, however, they will speak of an island held in the iron grip of a mafia family, who demands protection money and who control the local police force and are not above attacking or burning down the homes and businesses of people that cross them. 

no The advantage of swimming on isolated beaches is that you can swim when you are naked however the disadvantage is there are other people near you who can come to your aid if you are in trouble.

Here is an example of the benefits of swimming at a busy beach.  In 2010, I was invited by the United Nations to give three speeches at a UN crime conference in one of the large cities in Brazil. After I gave my third speech, my wife and I flew to Rio de Janeiro for a week of some fun.

On day when we were sunning ourselves on the beach, I decided to walk into the water. The waves were big enough for body surfing.  I surfed towards the beach and when I was close to the beach, and where the water was only two feet deep. a wave knocked me over and I was submerged in the shallow water.  Because I am disabled, I cannot get up on my own if I fall down. Some people on the beach saw me struggling in the water and they ran into the water and pulled me out of the water.  If my wife had seen me struggling in the water, she would have come to my aid but she was sleeping on a towel.  If we were on an isolated beach, I would have drowned If you still want to swim on an isolated beach, sit close to others on the beach and strike up a conversation. The reason why I say his is because if you need assistance, people you have become friends with are more apt to assist you than those you haven’t talked with.

With attention focused on the island, a number of other disturbing deaths soon came to light, including that of Nick Pearson, from Derby, who police concluded had fallen from cliffs and then drowned, and French tourist Dimitri Povse, who was found hanged with his hands tied behind his back. Since then, many tourists have refused to visit the island and they strongly advise friends and family not to go to that particular Island. Koh Tao is a place to be avoided at all costs.   

The two victims I am writing about were alone on an isolated beach on that Island that is why there were murdered by the two criminals.

At a Thai court in Koh Samui, (another Thia island) three judges found that two bar workers -who were migrants from Myanmar guilty of murder and ordered that they face the death penalty.

Prosecutors said that DNA evidence collected from cigarette butts, a condom and the bodies of the victims, linked Lin and Phyo to the deaths of the two victims.

Miss. Witheridge and Mr. Miller were found on a beach having been bludgeoned to death, and a post-mortem examination showed that Miss. Witheridge had been raped.

Later, the investigation into Ms. Witheridge and Mr. Miller's murders was widely criticized, with the police accused of incompetence, mismanagement and the scapegoating of two Burmese migrant workers, who are now awaiting in prison in Bangkok for their executions.

When I was in Bangkok, I was invited to visit the prisons for both men and women.  You never want to be in the men’s prisons because the men are packed so close, they can hardly move while sleeping on blankets on the floor. And the heat is unbearable because of the humidity. There is only one fan at an open window that circulates the hot humid air.

The investigation has been a muddled affair.  The first officers on the scene were local police with apparently no idea how to seal off a crime scene.

Thailand forensic scientist Dr. Pornthip Rojanasunand, whose institute was not allowed any involvement in the investigation, testified that the crime scene had been poorly managed and that evidence was improperly collected including flaws exposed during the trial that included the police's failure to test Miss Witheridge's clothes or the alleged murder weapon for DNA.

The date of the original DNA analysis was said to have been the  17^th of  September, but the report submitted to court was dated the 5^th of October that was  two days after the  police had announced a positive match. That unexplained discrepancy inevitably raises suspicion that perhaps the result was manipulated.

Instead of limiting their comments to what they knew about the crime, the Thai police threw out a barrage of speculation about who the culprit might be. It could not have been a Thai crimial, although the police said at first, it was a  Burmese migrant worker in the community.    

At one point of the investigation, the police  suspected a British friend of Mr. Miller as a possible suspect, then just as quickly, the police  dropped him. The initial team of investigators hinted they were looking at someone from a powerful family on Koh Tao. Then their commander was abruptly transferred and all official talk of this family's involvement was dropped.

Other flaws were exposed once the trial started in July, including the police's failure to test Miss Witheridge's clothes and their inability to find any DNA, apart from that of the victims, on the alleged murder weapon, a blood-stained hoe.

A year later. Dr. Pornthip tested the handle of the hoe and found the DNA of two people that matched neither the victims nor the defendants.

The court heard several CCTV cameras near the crime scene were not working and cameras by the pier were not inspected to see whether anyone had fled by boat after the crime.

Both defendants have also testified they were beaten and threatened into making confessions. No lawyers were present during the sessions and translators were of dubious reliability to translate the statements.

These factors raised serious questions over the integrity of the prosecution’s case. The most important question though, hung over one piece of evidence which did tie the defendants to the crime: the alleged match between their DNA, and that recovered from semen found on Miss Witheridge's body.

Less than three days after the crime, police announced they had extracted the DNA profiles of two men from the semen. They also said these matched DNA found on a cigarette butt near the scene.

The key question that hung over the case was the one piece of evidence that did tie the defendants to the crime ND that was the alleged match between their DNA that was recovered from their semen found on Miss Witheridge's body.

In court, a police officer testified those samples were received on the morning of the 17^th of September and started DNA extraction at 08:00 in the morning, local time. This seems unlikely since the pathologist only started his autopsy at 11:00. The successful profiling of two men was announced at around 2:00 in the afternoon.

It suggests remarkably rapid analysis, in less than 12 hours, from samples in which at least three people's DNA - the victim and the two men - were mixed.

DNA profiles were used to match cheek swabs taken from the two Burmese defendants after they were detained on the nd of October.

Jane Taupin, a renowned Australian forensic scientist brought in by the defence team, questioned the plausibility of working this quickly, saying extracting DNA from mixed samples was difficult and time-consuming.

Ms. Taupin was not allowed to testify, one of several inexplicable decisions by the defence, but she highlighted several important aspects of DNA testing which neither the defence team, the police, nor the judges appeared to understand.

DNA analysis is a complex procedure which requires meticulous care and documentation. Contrary to popular belief, it does not offer "perfect matches", only statistical probabilities.

Almost all DNA - 99.9% - is likely to be the same between two people,  That distinct 0.1% is made up of what are known as "short tandem repeat" sequences. These are isolated and examined for patterns which offer a statistical likelihood of a match to other DNA samples.

Usually a reference sample from a third party is also analysed. The statistical likelihood of the match must be demonstrated in court, with full documentation showing proof that the samples have not been contaminated and there was a peer review.

In the Koh Tao case, the prosecution provided only a one-page summary of their DNA tests, some of it handwritten, with parts crossed out and corrected, along with four supporting pages.

The case files of the Thai forensic lab should have been provided to the defence which they were not,  Ms. Taupin said. "This is so the scientific data contained within, and used to provide conclusions, could be examined for a scientific review.

"The essence of scientific method is the testing and review of hypotheses. If these are not viewed, or even stated, then this does not inspire confidence in the scientific analysis.

A one-page table with alterations is not a suitable document to provide to a court. A report should not have alterations, especially handwritten ones, with no explanation as to why they were altered.

There were other problems too. The date of the original DNA analysis was said to have been the 17^th of September, but the report submitted to court was dated the 5^th of October. This was two days after the police had announced a positive match with the two Burmese defendants. That unexplained discrepancy inevitably raises suspicion that perhaps the findings were manipulated.

These weaknesses in the prosecution case should have given the defence a field day in court, but they were not raised until the closing statement.

The two police forensic witnesses were not cross-examined over the doubtful timings nor the scrappy and incomplete DNA documentation.

Had Ms. Taupin been called, she could have exposed these flaws. Instead, she had to sit in the lawyers' room, largely ignored, and then fly home without testifying. Whatever views the three judges formed of the quality of the prosecution's evidence, it was never properly challenged in court.

When asked one of the defence lawyers about their bafflingly non-adversarial tactics. he did not offer a convincing explanation. Perhaps they were nervous of being seen to take too much advice from a foreigner, for fear they would lose sympathy from the judges.

Everyone in that court was aware how much Thailand's reputation was on the line, and discrediting the police in such a public way might have felt like a dangerous step for the lawyers to take.

This remains one of a number of frustrating unknowns about this murder case. These can only have added to the suffering of the victims' families and the risk that the two men convicted of the        murders may be executed.

Thailand, as of 2018, is one of 58 nations that still retain capital punishment. The method of execution is by firing squad or by lethal injection.

When I learn of what their fate is going to be, I will put it on the end of this article as an UPDATE.