Koh Tao murders: DNA tests clear village chief's son (updated Saturday)
All four hospitals that took DNA samples from Warot Tuwichian, son of the Koh Tao village headman, have indicated that the samples do not match the DNA found at the crime scene.
All four hospitals that took DNA samples from Warot Tuwichian, son of the Koh Tao village headman, have indicated that the samples do not match the DNA found at the crime scene.
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Saturday update
Four hospitals have now confirmed that the DNA samples taken Thursday from Warot Tuwichian do not match those taken from the Koh Tao murder scene. SOMCHAI POOMLARD
Village chief's son cleared
Online reporters
The son of an influential local leader on Koh Tao has been cleared from possible involvement in the Koh Tao murder case after all four DNA test results showed no match.
The DNA samples taken from Warot Tuwichian did not match the DNA in semen retrieved from the body of British tourist Hannah Witheridge, who was raped and murdered on a Koh Tao beach, and items found at the crime scene, said police spokesman Prawut Thawornsiri late on Friday.
The four institutions which conducted the tests were the Police General, Ramathibodi, Chulalongkorn Memorial and Siriraj hospitals, he said.
"The results have been officially endorsed and there's no need to send more samples abroad to be retested.
"Mr Warot is not a suspect in the case but he has cooperated with us well. As far as the police are concerned, he was cleared long ago. We only did this [DNA tests] to comply with his wish to prove his innocence to the public," Pol Lt Gen Prawut said.
Mr Warot has been a subject of speculation and criticism in online media, in which he was suspected of being a perpetrator and the mastermind in covering up the crime.
Mr Warot is the son of Hat Sairee village chief Woraphan who owns AC Bar where the two murdered tourists had a quarrel with some men before being killed later that night.
Friday
Warot Tuwichian, 22,left submits to a DNA examination Thursday in the presence of national police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang (in full uniform standing behind Warot) and his father Woraphan Tuwichian (standing left) PATTARCHAI PREECHAPANIT
Friday
The first DNA results are in. Here is the latest from our online reporters:
The first result of tests on DNA taken from the son of an influential local leader on Koh Tao have shown no match with DNA found at the scene of the murder of two British tourists in September.
The Institute of Forensic Science at the Police General Hospital reported on Friday that tests of a DNA sample taken from Warot Tuwichian did not match the DNA in semen retrieved from the body of British tourist Hannah Witheridge, who was raped and murdered on a Koh Tao beach, and items found at the crime scene.
Police are now waiting on results of tests on samples taken by Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Siriraj Hospital and Ramathibodee Hospital.
The 22-year-old university student was accused in the social media of possible involvement in the murders of Witheridge and her companion, fellow tourist David Miller, in the early morning of Sept 15 at Hat Sairee.
Thursday: Afternoon update
Here are details of yet another DNA-related examination, adapted from a story by Supapong Chaolan
DNA test for AC Bar owner’s son
The son of a Koh Tao village headman once assumed to be a suspect in the Koh Tao double murders has submitted to a public DNA test Wednesday to quash persistent rumours about his involvement in the case.
Warot Tuwichian, 22, appeared with his father, Woraphan, at the Bangkok press conference with national police chief Somyot Pumpanmuang and other concerned authorities.
Mr Woraphan flew from Surat Thani to Bangkok on Tuesday and met Pol Gen Somyot at the Royal Thai Police Office at the police chief’s invitation.
Mr Woraphan said Pol Gen Somyot wanted to talk to him about the killing of two Britons and the reports and rumours that emerged in the investigation’s early days that Mr Woraphan, owner of the AC Bar where backpackers Hannah Witheridge and David Miller were last seen, and his two sons were involved in their deaths.
Mr Woraphan’s younger brother, Montriwat Tuwichian, 45, manages the bar. Warot reportedly is a university student in Bangkok and produced CCTV images proving he was in the capital at the time of the killings. But he never submitted to a DNA test.
Here is more from our online reporters:
Doctors from Chulalongkorn Hospital, Siriraj Hospital, Ramathibodi Hospital and Police General Hospital collected DNA samples from Mr Warot at the Royal Thai Police Office on Thursday.
The samples were to be compared with DNA samples found on Witheridge's body and on items found at the crime scene. The results of the tests were expected in 24 hours.
"No one except my close friends bothered to double-check with me," Warot Tuwichian told a press conference today as his father Woraphan listened. PATTARCHAI PREECHAPANIT
Mr Woraphan said that online accusations linking his son with the murder case had damaged the family's reputation and his lawyers would take legal action.
His son Warot said he was sad that people believed unsupported claims made by anonymous people. No one except his close friends had bothered to double check with him.
Police chief Pol Gen Somyot said investigators had not demanded a DNA sample from Mr Warot earlier, or questioned him, because they had evidence that he had not been near the crime scene at the time of the murders.
He also said police would take legal action against people making accusations about the police investigation. These claims were aimed at discrediting the police and the government. Legal action would be directed against the owners of web pages which carried the accusations.
Morning story
General Prayuth, pictured here at Government House last week, says the two Myanmar suspects accused of murdering two British tourists on Koh Tao in Surat Thani should be allowed to seek another DNA test. CHANAT KATANYU
Prayut offers kill suspects new DNA tests
POST REPORTERS
The two Myanmar suspects accused of murdering two British tourists on Koh Tao in Surat Thani should be allowed to seek another DNA test, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said yesterday.
Gen Prayut suggested the new tests hoping to end growing concerns the police investigation was riddled with problems, from allegations of torture to questions about the mass collection of DNA.
"We will allow the suspects to fight the case however they want," Gen Prayut told reporters after the weekly cabinet meeting. "We have no problem conducting another DNA test if sceptics think the DNA results released to date were not correct or not fair."
It was not immediately clear whether the suspects, Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun, had requested a second DNA test. The parents of the two Myanmar suspects, who are now in Thailand, have said their sons are being made into "scapegoats".
The parents of the two Myanmar suspects, with the support of the Myanmar embassy in Thailand, say their sons are innocent. THITI WANNAMONTHA
The parents yesterday accompanied Myanmar's ambassador to Thailand, Win Muang, to seek legal counsel from Dej-udom Krairit, chairman of the Lawyers Council of Thailand. The Myanmar government believes the suspects are innocent and wants the council to defend them in court.
Dej-udom Krairit, Chairman of the Lawyers Council of Thailand. PAWAT LAOPAISARNTAKSIN
Shortly after the meeting, Mr Dej-udom said the council will set up a 12-member committee, which he will chair, to oversee the case. He vowed to monitor the case closely and will meet Myanmar embassy officials again after prosecutors formally indict the suspects.
Thawatchai Siangjaew, director-general of the Office of the Public Prosecution Region 8, said lawyers were wrapping up the case and promised the prosecution would be fair to the defendants.
Police hailed a breakthrough earlier this month in their investigation of the murder of David Miller, 24, and the rape and murder of Hannah Witheridge, 23, after claiming DNA from Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Htun matched samples taken from the body of Witheridge. Police said the men had confessed.
But last week the men, both migrant workers in their 20s, retracted their confessions, alleging they were obtained under torture. Criticism of the police handling of the case has swirled in both Thailand and overseas, especially in the UK.
However, Thai authorities have denied using the pair as scapegoats, insisting the case is built on solid evidence. British police were allowed to observe the investigation after the UK expressed concerns and offered to help with the probe.
Gen Prayut said yesterday the British investigators were satisfied and had expressed those sentiments to their Thai counterparts.
He claimed British officers had said Thai authorities had done better than they expected and that the investigation had been carried out the same way they would have done it.
British and Thai police studied from the "same textbooks", Gen Prayut said.
For our previous coverage which pretty much follows the case from the beginning, look here:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning-from-news/434177/koh-tao-murders-frustration-grows
http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning-from-news/433605/koh-tao-murders-still-big-news
http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/learning-from-news/432493/tourists-murdered-on-koh-tao
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