The national police chief today rejected media reports that Thai authorities had lost DNA evidence in the case of two Burmese men accused of killing two British tourists on Koh Tao.
Somyot Poompanmoung said the international media’s poor grasp of Thai led to misunderstanding police Lt. Col. Somsak Nurod, who was quoted by the BBC as saying the DNA material had been “used up” and was no longer available for retesting by the defense.
Chief Somyot said authorities did not lose the records of DNA, claiming the foreign reporter might have misunderstood.
Somyot’s statements don’t appear to differ from what was said in the media reports. While the original statement were about the actual evidence, Somyot’s comments today were about the police’s test results.
Whereas Somsak yesterday talked about the actual physical evidence collected from cigarette butts and semen no longer being available, Somyot today was speaking of the police’s own results from examining that evidence.
“Lawyers can request access to the examination results directly through the court,” state media reported today. “Once the court accepts the request, a command will be issued to the police to forward the examination results to the lawyer.”
Andy Hall, a migrant workers rights advocate consulting with the defense team, pointed out via Twitter this afternoon that wasn’t the matter in discussion.
“Important distinction to say police analysis of samples (print outs/charts) are available but original substances to re-check are not,” Hall wrote.
In April the defense team had requested its own indepedent examination of the DNA evidence authorities have hinged their case upon. They wanted access to the original samples taken from cigarette butts, a used condom and other material retrieved from the crime scene.
Migrant workers Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Tun are on trial for the murder of David Miller, 24, and the rape and murder of Hannah Witheridge, 23, on Koh Tao in September. Both have denied the charges and said they were forced into making confessions.
Thai police and prosecutors said the DNA matches the two men and will prove it in court.
Photo: Royal Thai Police Chief Somyot Pumpanmuang
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