Koh Samui (Thailand) (AFP)
Zaw Lin and Win Zaw Tun were found guilty of killing David Miller, 24, and the rape and murder of Hannah Witheridge, 23, whose battered bodies were found on a beach on the southern diving resort of Koh Tao in September last year.
“Both defendants are guilty of murder for which the penalty is the death sentence,” an unnamed judge told the court on neighbouring Koh Samui.
The pair were also found guilty of raping Witheridge and conspiracy to hide the crime in a ruling that was welcomed by Miller’s family who travelled to Thailand for the verdict.
The ruling was guided by “eyewitnesses and DNA evidence from both suspects,” the judge explained, citing forensic traces from the accused found on Witheridge’s body.
The migrant workers, who were shackled in court, were grim-faced as the verdict was delivered, while the mother of one of them wailed from the gallery.
Both men denied killing the British pair.
They were arrested on October 2 after a high-profile police probe which saw authorities come under intense pressure to solve a case that shocked the Thai public.
Throughout the trial prosecutors said their evidence against the men was rock solid. (Courtesy of The Citizen)
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