Murder in Paradise

[Oliver]

UK Channel 4 broadcast an excellent documentary on Wednesday about the recent murders on Koh Tao. Some interesting aspects. I hadn't realised that they have been further unexplained and barely investigated deaths of falangs on the island since those poor Burmese guys were convicted, nor that the alleged weapon used in the murder showed no DNA from the accused. Distinctly odd.
The programme showed close-ups of the two guys; one of them looked no more than sixteen. It wouldn't surprise me if the Thai Police and their masters lied about that as well.

[Gaybutton]

those poor Burmese guys were convicted

Why does everybody just assume those 'poor Burmese guys' were wrongly convicted? There have been people convicted in the USA, and rightly so, for murder on less evidence than was produced in this case. The families of the victims were in court every day. They were there to see and hear everything. They are convinced those boys did exactly what they were accused of. Do any of you truly believe the families would want to see the wrong people convicted while the real murderers are still out there? If it were you, would you want that? Would you want just someone convicted and it wouldn't matter whether it's the actual murderer?

What I believe is if the families had any reason whatsoever to doubt the verdict and the real murderers are still free, they would be the first ones to be raising hell about it, and probably much louder and continuously than the media. After all, if the media decided to go along with the conviction rather than trying to portray it as an injustice, there wouldn't be a story for them to hype up.

One common argument is the alleged murder weapon showed no DNA from those boys. If there was no DNA from these boys, then whose DNA is on the weapon? Did it show DNA from anybody?

The media seems to be thriving on hyping up this case as a terrible injustice perpetrated on perfectly innocent boys. I'm not convinced of that at all. If I'm convinced of anything, I think those boys are guilty as hell.

[Oliver]

I'm not convinced either. But we are talking about the killing of possibly innocent boys. And, in my view, supported by centuries of jurisprudence here in the UK, "possibly innocent" is enough. The US has an appalling record of executing innocent Afro-Americans (the US's Burmese); the poor are easily duped and scapegoated. The police told the boys that they would spend a year in gaol if they confessed....after torturing them. And even if the investigations had been above board, the prospect of their dying on the basis of forensic evidence that was disputed (some would say mocked) by the leading expert from Bangkok -who presumably had no local connections- and also by the UK's own experts who also had no axe to grind.
I also have a rather old-fashioned view on the use of torture to get admissions of guilt.
I advise everyone to try to see the programme.

[Gaybutton]

The police told the boys that they would spend a year in gaol if they confessed....after torturing them.

That is where your opinion and mine differs. That is what the boys say happened. Maybe it did, but I know of no evidence to support it.

Even if unscrupulous police tricked them into a confession, or really did torture them into a confession - and I too would be appalled if the police actually tortured them - that doesn't mean they didn't commit the crime.

At the end of the day, there are only two people who know whether these boys committed the crime - the boys themselves.

[Gaybutton]

I don't think there is any limit to what the police agencies in Thailand will do for the right price...Anything!!

I can't argue with that part . . .

[Captain Kirk]

Gave this a watch today. TBH I was a bit disappointed with the prog. Quite superficial on the details and really provided nothing that hasn't been widely reported when the case was ongoing. I don't get why one of the families are so convinced of their guilt but then I wasn't at the trial. My own uncertainty over the verdict comes as much from the publicity given to the doubters than anything else.

[Up2u]

April 23, 2016
Don’t let your kids backpack in Koh Tao – the clear message from the CH4 documentary

At 10pm GMT last night Ch4 presented a documentary about six suspicious deaths in just over two years on the Thai island of Koh Tao. The program created by Make Productions had already been aired on Channel News Asia last month, however the UK program was billed to be a less watered down version..... (read more)...

http://www.samuitimes.com/dont-let-your ... cumentary/

[Gaybutton]

One of the main reasons I am skeptical of these sorts of documentaries is because every so often a film crew shows up in Sunee Plaza and the next thing you know there's a documentary - and I have yet to see one that presents Sunee Plaza or any other aspect of the bar scene anywhere in Thailand, gay or straight, that is anything other than a load of misrepresented twisted-to-sensationalize crap.

[Bangkokian]

Whilst I am convinced that the two boys are innocent and set up by the local police/mafia, I wonder if they'd have got as much interest and sympathy if, instead of being two cute young boys, they'd been two gnarled old sea gypsies.

[Oliver]

That's a bit cynical. The sympathy for these guys cuts across sexualities here in the UK. There is a strong aversion towards capital punishment and Chinese and Iranian policies receive wide condemnation. The treatment of Afro-Americans is even more of a hot-topic because of our links with the US and is reflected in popular entertainment. There's a BBC series at the moment which , though portraying the story of an undercover policeman , has a powerful sub-plot about an innocent Afro-American on Death Row.
Another factor is that the young people who back-pack in Thailand and holiday in places like Kho Tao, tend to be middle-class or well-educated and see for themselves the problems faced by minority groups like the Burmese and Sea-Gypsies.