British backpackers murder trial: suspects 'should be acquitted'

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/26/british-backpackers-trial-acquit-suspects-court-told-hannah-witheridge-david-miller

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Two Burmese men accused of murdering a pair of British backpackers in Thailand should be acquitted because of the unreliable evidence in the case, a court has heard.

Hannah Witheridge, 23, from Hemsby, Norfolk, and David Miller, 24, from Jersey, were found dead on the island of Koh Tao on 15 September 2014.

Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo, both Burmese migrants, are on trial for murder but deny their involvement. The defendants, aged 22, initially confessed to the killings but later retracted these statements, telling the court they had been tortured. Police have denied torturing the accused.

In a closing statement to Koh Samui court, the legal team representing Lin and Phyo said the pair were questioned by police “without lawyers or trusted persons present”, while DNA samples were taken from them involuntarily.

The statement said: “The accused’s original confessions cited by the prosecution in court came about involuntarily from torture or abuse that made them fear for their lives and safety, in the context of a wider case investigation when migrants reported systematic abuse on Koh Tao island.

“These written confessions, even if they had been signed, shouldn’t be considered by the court.”

The defendants’ lawyers said re-enactments of the murders were “staged under threat of violence”, while DNA samples from the alleged murder weapon, a garden hoe, did not match the DNA profiles of the accused.

They added: “The DNA evidence allegedly matching the accused, as well as all surrounding or circumstantial evidence in this case apparently showing the guilt of the accused, is unreliable and should be inadmissible and not considered by the court.

“The prosecution case is marked by an absence of significant evidence needed to prove the guilt of the accused for crimes they are charged with.”

Postmortem examinations showed that the young backpackers, who had met on the island while staying at the same hotel, both suffered severe head wounds and that Witheridge had been raped.

The court is expected to deliver its verdict in the trial on 24 December.