KOH SAMUI, THAILAND // The high-profile trial of a pair of Myanmar migrants charged over the deaths of two British holidaymakers on Koh Tao island opened on Wednesday.
Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Tun have both pleaded not guilty to the murder last September of David Miller, 24, and the rape and murder of Hannah Witheridge, 23, in a case that has tarnished Thailand’s reputation as a tourist haven.
The two men, who have been in custody on neighbouring Koh Samui since October, arrived at court in a prison van with their feet shackled.
They face several charges – including murder, rape and robbery. If found guilty, they could face the death penalty.
Family members of the two British backpackers were present as the trial began and the prosecution questioned their first witness, a policeman who found the tourists’ bruised and battered bodies.
The officer described the harrowing scene as he discovered the lifeless Miller “face down” on the shallow surf followed by the body of Witheridge further up the beach. Police have said she was raped and beaten.
Their murders, just a few hundred yards from the main tourist drag in Koh Tao, sent shockwaves across the sleepy idyll in the Gulf of Thailand immensely popular with backpackers and divers.
But the prosecution has been marred by allegations of a bungled investigation with the defence team claiming the migrants, who worked for low wages in the tourism trade, were scapegoats as the police force faced pressure.
The killings came as the country’s vital tourism industry was beginning to recover from months of violent street protests that culminated in the May 2014 military coup.
The case also shone a light on Thailand’s many underpaid and often exploited Myanmar migrant workers who fill the lucrative tourist sector.
The pair’s defence team have long criticised the police investigation, claiming the crime scene was contaminated and that their clients were tortured into admitting guilt.
Both men retracted their initial confessions, saying they were coerced into making them.
The defence team had also complained about not being given access to the forensic evidence, despite the court initially ruling in April that they could run their own independent tests.
The judge will decide on Thursday on whether to allow the tests the defence team have been demanding for months.
The forensic material from the crime scene has been used by Thai police and prosecutors to insist they have charged the right men, saying it strongly points to the Myanmar pair as the perpetrators.
The victims’ families have also previously said they have confidence in the case after British investigators reported back to them following a visit to Thailand last year.
* Agence France-Presse
