BANGKOK
A Thai judge agreed Thursday to a defense request to double-check DNA samples found at a site where two British tourists were murdered.
The samples are alleged to belong to two Myanmar migrant workers accused of killing David Miller, 24, and Hannah Witheridge, 23, on the tourist hotspot of of Koh Tao, but allegations have been raised of police impropriety in the subsequent investigation.
“We will send the DNA samples to the Forensic science institute of the Justice ministry,” said the judge Thursday, replying to a petition presented by one of the accused's lawyers.
“This is not because we don’t trust the police who did the first DNA analysis, but it is for the sake of a good justice,” he added.
The tourists were found dead Sept. 15 on a beach on Koh Tao island, in southern Thailand.
Their bodies were badly bruised and Witheridge had been raped before death.
The police investigation, however, has been mired in controversy as reporters were allowed to enter the crime scene, potentially altering evidence.
Zaw Lin and Wai Phyo, two Myanmar workers employed on the island, were arrested Oct. 2. They first confessed to the crime, but then backtracked saying they had been tortured in jail by policemen who wanted to force them to confess.
Thai police have denied accusations of torture or misconduct, but suspicion has been raised given its history of framing suspects in order to "show results."
In 1986, four Thai men were arrested for the murder of Sherry Ann Duncan, a Thai-American teenager whose body was found by the side of a road after she was abducted on her way home from school.
All four were sentenced to death, only to be found innocent five years later. By then, one had died in prison, and two others died a few months after their release.
In 2000, an Australian was shot dead and his partner raped in Northern Thailand.
Two members of an ethnic minority hill tribe community were arrested, confessed and sentenced, but five years later they were found innocent and released -- their lawyer saying their confessions had been tortured from them.
In October, Amnesty International called for Thai authorities to initiate an "independent, effective and transparent investigation into the mounting allegations."
