Judge sets December 24 for murder trial verdict

The judge in the murder trial of two Burmese men charged with killing two English tourists last year said he will read his verdict on Dec. 24.

Wei Phyo and Zaw Lin, both 22, were arrested and charged with killing the English man and woman, and raping the woman.

Police handling of the investigation was widely criticized, while the two Burmese migrant laborers said they were beaten and forced to confess to the murders. They recanted their confessions even before the trial began in July.

Experts also testified that detectives mishandled key evidence, including the DNA samples. Prosecutors claimed at the trial that DNA found on the bodies of the victims matched the two defendants.

Hannah Witheridge, 23, from Norfolk, and David Miller, 24, of Jersey, were found bludgeoned to death on Sairee Beach on the popular tourist island of Koh Tao on Sept. 15 of last year. Witheridge had been raped during the murder. The tiny police detachment on Koh Tao moved the bodies and generally contaminated the crime scene even before an investigation began.

While no polls have been taken, it is generally believed that strong majorities of Thais and foreign residents believe the Burmese men are innocent. Police are generally distrusted in Thailand.

Lawyers for the two accused men have been helped by members of NGOs who normally work to document abuses of the million-person migrant labor force in Thailand.

The entire investigation of the tourists' deaths has carried mystery from the beginning, however. At one point, Scotland Yard sent a team of detectives to look into the case, but that team's report never has been made public.

Thailand has no jury system and the case is in the hands of the presiding judge of the Criminal Court of Samui, a nearby island.

Dec. 24 is just another workday in Thailand, where Christmas is not officially celebrated.