BUT THAT'S GOOD NEWS!
FLYING SPORRAN’S WEEKEND DIARY
COMMENT
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| Woraphan Tuvichien - Press Conference - TBS |
I say 'stopped digging' but there was not much digging to do – not with the western population scared to open their mouths – and even told not to on their community Facebook page - and the indigenous Thais who are able to talk blaming the horrendous crime on anyone but themselves.
The Daily Mail and the BBC's Jonathan Head are holding out.
By tradition the man from the Mail is always the last to leave.
Nine days after the badly beaten bodies of Hannah Witheridge and David Wilson were found on Sairee Beach the Thai police are on the defensive – and an influential island family boss has held a press conference.
Woraphan Tuvichian has offered a million baht (£20,000) if someone who can prove a member of his family were involved. He has instructed his lawyers to sue the newspapers for libel.
“The media coverage has ruined my reputation. I have friends and people from a number of organisations calling me up to inquire on the coverage. Everyone’s wondering of (about) these accusations. This continues to be a really bad experience for me and my family”.
Private Eye’s ‘Glenda Slagg’ would have had a field day.
Of course one has to feel sympathy for wrongly accused people but newspapers are not the source of the accusations which only referred to suspects. And while members of his family have been identified as possible suspects, they have now been repeatedly publicly exonerated – much more than say, some Burmese migrant workers...or Scot Sean McSAnna - but more of that later.
More to the point Woraphan Tuvichien is seemingly totally oblivious to the westerners who were accused, and of course to the Burmese migrant workers. Not only were the Burmese accused of being the prime suspects but they were beaten by police according to reports reaching here and already published in Irrawaddy Online; proof again it seems of the treatment of Burmese in Thailand – the subject of other libel cases on the go being defended by human rights activist Andy Hall.
So now let’s see how the investigation is going, well, er at least the Thai media one.
This from Thai PBS television’s website. The Tuvichiens are clearly so upset with Sean McAnna who fled their AC disco pub in terror, that he appears to be now the main suspect. This may be because, as Wataphan pointed out “He portrayed our family as mafia."
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| ''I'M OFFSKI!' McAnna leaving town - just in time it seems. |
PBS
“Mr. Woraphan admitted that he did have a word with Sean as he suspected that he may have been involved with the murder.
(Ah then it is your duty as one of the community leaders to get to the truth Mr. Woraphan)
PBS
Mr. Woraphan said on the night of the murder, one of his employees identified as Jok saw so much blood on the face and body of Mr. Sean, so he helped to wash it out for him.
(Er, did not Jok ask Sean if he had murdered and raped a couple of westerners, or indeed how he had blood on his face?)
PBS
Later he found out that Mr. Sean looked very close to a suspect on the CCTV footage, he then asked Sean about the blood and was told that it was caused by accident.
(Oh he did, but only only thought about it later, after he had seen the CCTV. Was he murdering someone on CCTV or walking down the street? And when exactly was Sean identified on CCTV? Come to think of it - who has been identified on CCTV? - and when was he wiping off blood - at 4.30 am?)
PBS
He also said as the DNA testing revealed later the DNA samples in the female victim’s body belonged to Asian men, forcing his employee to be reluctant to give further information to the police as they thought Sean was not involved.
(But of course he did not mention this to police because they never asked. Several days after the murders police were too busy with Burmese immigrant and foreigners that they still had not called in the village heads and their employees for interrogation. His employer is one of the island leaders. Why would he not tell the police? So what changed their minds?)
PBS
Besides, as Mr. Sean was not captured in the CCTV footage, and the police probe was going astray, he chose to stay put, he said.
(Yes that first thing you said about the CCTV does not ring very true does it?)
PBS
Meanwhile, a claim by Sean that he went hiding in a convenience store on the island fearing for manhunt by his so-called mafias was also partially true, was taken seriously by a TV Station.A check by television channel staff on the CCTV footage at the 7-Eleven store showed he did enter the store but with no sign of fear as he claimed.
Pursuer and under-cover cop
(Partially true? This one takes the biscuit. Yes it’s true Sean McAnna went into the convenience story because McAnna photographed his adversaries from behind a counter. (And Montrivet Tuvichian has admitted following Sean to the convenience store). But the CCTV file shows he has no sign of fear? Now I have had trouble identifying a face let alone what was one the guy’s mind viewing the CCTV files so far. Are you kidding me?)
So there you have it. It is quite clear that despite their findings that the DNA of the killers is Asian, people can still find a way to stick this on a foreigner.
DEJA VUE
But where have I heard this before? Yes in Chiang Mai when police were investigating the yet to be solved murder and rape of Kirsty Jones, 23, from Brecon, they tortured a Karen (Burmese) tourist guide with even more vigour than the cops are alleged to have done on Koh Tao with their migrant population.
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| Narong telling his story - but local press would not publish before international press. "It was not me - now my privates ache". |
Narong Pojanathamrongpongse a tourist guide was essentially kidnapped off the street by men in black, taken to a private house and tortured.
This included beating and police attacks on his testicles as they only know how. He was told to confess to save the image of Thailand and ordered to masturbate. When he refused a policeman tried but failed to do it for him. Yes, I know this conjures up an unbelievable image.
When that was revealed police continued their pursuit of foreigners.
They had already accused an Australian called Nathan Foley and had him trample all over the crime scene and they had banged up a New Zealander Stuart Chrichton – though they had caught him with a small amount of drugs.
Then they banged up the owner of the guest house Andy Gill, then 32, and his manager, a guy called Surin, who, would you believe in his previous life as a monk used to hit on foreign women.
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| Chrichton - get me out of here. It was'nt me |
Anyway neither matched the DNA which was of course Asian, and for want of repeating myself that did not seem to matter too much to the original Chief Of Detectives, because he proudly announced that the murderer could have easily slipped into town and bought some sperm off a ladyboy.
Of course if a westerner did that wouldn’t the ladyboy remember? I’m sure I would I some stranger came up to me in the street and asked me for a sample. I think I'd have a plaque made to commemorate the occasion.
It actually took Dyfed-Powys Police officers in Wales and the Home Office laboratory to get a complete profile of Kirsty’s killer. But Thai police could not find a match…and still cannot.
What is interesting though however is the Royal Thai Police’s attitude to forensic investigation.
Twenty years on they are still asking foreign police forces to do DNA testing. Results here in short are not so precise but enough to eliminate people. Yet there is a well-equipped but rarely used police lab in Bangkok (so foreign police told me but this was a while ago).
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| Uncuff me. It wasn't me - Andy Gill |
Bad? No that’s good. Serious forensic work is out of the control of the police as it should be. If it were in their hands they could introduce DNA into the crime scene at will.
If Sean McAnna fits the profile – he will of course be examined by British police – and be extradited. Does not sound like the current frame-up by innuendo will warrant it though.
But of course the attack now on Sean McAnna is likely to be a deliberate 'red herring' just as in the first place people connected to the island bosses were putting out stories that murderer was a jealous gay boyfriend of David Miller, and all the other stories.
Information has been coming into my office. It is very possible someone may talk to the military off island , if they have assurances of absolute protection.
But of course the attack now on Sean McAnna is likely to be a deliberate 'red herring' just as in the first place people connected to the island bosses were putting out stories that murderer was a jealous gay boyfriend of David Miller, and all the other stories.
Information has been coming into my office. It is very possible someone may talk to the military off island , if they have assurances of absolute protection.
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| 'It was not me' - Nathan Foley who was filmed as suspect in the murder of Kirsty Jones - This photo was taken in the room where it happened - and forensics had not even started. |
Thai sourced allegations continue to come into my office. They continue to refer to local families. Andy Lines, a reporter for the Daily Mirror penned his last story from the island this week. He referred to a mafia style 'Omerta' code of silence. I am afraid he is bang on.
It is quite possible that the very people who leads tourist on with bonhomie and exhortations to 'enjoy' are the very people to be careful of.
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And in my view there is every likelihood that a lot of people knew who the killers were from the very first day. Only the military can break the 'code of silence'.
It is quite possible that the very people who leads tourist on with bonhomie and exhortations to 'enjoy' are the very people to be careful of.
And in my view there is every likelihood that a lot of people knew who the killers were from the very first day. Only the military can break the 'code of silence'.