A Thai police officer who was called to the scene of the killing of two British tourists on Koh Tao island in September 2014 testified on Wednesday, the first of dozens of witnesses who will appear in court during a three-month trial of two Burmese men.
Police Lieutenant Jakkapan Kaewkao, the second police officer at the scene, said he found David Miller face down in the surf and Hannah Witheridge 12 metres away on the beach.
Questioned by the prosecution, he said he received a call at 6:30am on September 15, 2014 by a fellow officer. He arrived at the beach five minutes later and swiftly cordoned off the area.
Three judges sat high above the small court room on Koh Samui, a larger island near Koh Tao, where witnesses will testify over the next three days.
Five more three-day sessions will be staggered over the next few weeks, ending on 25 September, after which the judges will rule on the verdict. There will be no jury.
Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo – also known as Win Zaw Htun – are 22-year-old bar and restaurant migrant workers from Burma. They were escorted into the court by police, shackled hands to feet by chains. The men, both the smallest in height in the room, wore matching beige outfits.
The case has shocked Britain. The families of the deceased – both present for the first time at the hearing – have asked for privacy.
They walked together into the court on Wednesday shortly after it started, escorted by British consular officials and sat a few metres from the defendants.
The family of Witheridge said in a statement on Wednesday: “Hannah was a beautiful person, inside and out, she brought a room alive just being there. She was fun, honest and loved life. Her bright future was brutally ended, leaving those who loved her broken with no answers. We ask that the media treat Hannah with dignity in their reporting of the trial.”
“Please allow the police and the court to do their jobs during the coming weeks and months. We of course want to see those responsible for the brutal murder of our precious girl brought to justice.”
Miller’s family said: “The act which ended David’s life devastated our family and his friends. Just hours before he died, David was talking to us with his usual enthusiasm, describing the beauty of Koh Tao and the friendliness of the Thai people.”
“Over the coming weeks we hope to gain a better understanding as to how such a wonderful young man lost his life in such idyllic surroundings in such a horrible way.”
The Burmese men initially admitted to the murder of Miller, who suffered head injuries and drowned in shallow water, and the rape and murder of Witheridge, who died from severe head injuries. But they later retracted their confessions, saying they had been tortured and threatened with death by their interrogators.
A team of pro-bono lawyers and human rights activists are working as the defence, wearing black gowns and sitting in the court. They accuse Thai police of improperly collecting evidence at the crime scene, intimidation and abuse of witnesses and suspects – which the police deny – and not sharing key forensic evidence with the defence, a move they say seriously impedes a fair trial.
The case has caused Thailand’s judiciary to be closely scrutinised. “This appears to be a situation where the accused had been tortured to confess to the crimes,” said lead defence lawyer Nakhon Chompuchat said in a statement before the trial started.
A key issue for the defence is whether DNA samples, taken from sputum and semen, which the prosecution says links the Burmese migrant workers to the murder could be independently checked. The judge said on Wednesday the matter would be dealt with on Thursday when the police officer who holds the samples will be present in the court.
Andy Hall, a migrants’ rights activist from Britain who is working for the defence, told the Guardian outside the court: “Recently in the last few weeks we’ve got some significant information from the UK side and it’s raises a lot of very important inconsistencies between the Thai evidence and the the evidence from the UK.” He did not give details on what evidence UK authorities had provided.
Metropolitan police detectives were sent to Thailand in 2014 to look over the case and report back to officials and the families.
“For this case to rest, it’s very important to re-examine that DNA material and find out whose DNA profile it really is,” Hall said.
A UK Foreign Office spokeswomen refused to comment on that issue but said consular officers provided support and assistance to the families of Witheridge, 23, from Norfolk, and Miller, 24, from Jersey.
In the court, a supermarket trolley held other pieces of evidence, including a guitar wrapped in plastic and said to be owned by the defendants and rolls of paper. Other witnesses to appear will be the doctor who determined the cause of death and a woman who first found the bodies.
