We didn’t beat Koh Tao murder suspects to confess

Lieutenant Colonel Tanongsak Aksornsorn told a court on the neighbouring island of Koh Samui today that he had seen no evidence of any abusive behaviour towards the two migrant workers from Myanmar, Zaw Lin and Wei Phyo.

Both men are on trial for the rape and murder of Hemsby student Hannah Witheridge, 23, and the murder of 24 year old David Miller from Jersey.

Lt Col Aksornsorn conducted the first interview with Zaw Lin,wholesale jerseys from china and was present at questioning sessions of both men before the public re enactment, immediately after it, and also on two other occasions while they were on remand in prison.

He said he never heard anybody threaten to pull out the teeth, or cut off the arms and legs of the two 22 year old migrant workers, as they claim, and he never saw anyone slap or hit them.

The officer told the judges that the clothes of the defendants had even been removed after the last interview session on Koh Tao to confirm they did not have any marks or bruises on their bodies.

However, earlier in the court testimony, another police officer had said that a doctor was called for defendant Wei Phyo, after his first questioning session on the mainland, before he was taken back to Koh Tao, but one was “not available to examine him”. He apparently had bruising on his face.

Wei Phyo’s co accused, Zaw Lin, was taken to hospital by prison officers in Koh Samui, after being transferred from Koh Tao, because he was complaining of chest pain. A cellmate of both men testified in court that he had personally seen the injuries on Zaw Lin’s body.

Prosecution nears end

After 12 days of hearings the prosecution evidence is coming to a close, and the defendants will get their chance to testify next week.

Apart from the public re enactment, and a videoed confession shown to the court, it will be the first opportunity for them to give their version of events since they retracted their confessions.

In letters sent to the media, and made public on social media, they have maintained they are innocent.

Earlier this week a British court denied them the right to see a copy of the report compiled by Metropolitan police officers on the murders. The British court explained that it could not provide any assistance to a trial where the defendants might face the death penalty.

The parents of Mr Miller have spent the last two days in court listening to trial evidence with the aid of a translator. At the start of the trial they said they wanted to keep an open mind until they had heard all the evidence, but they felt they needed to be present in solidarity with their murdered son.