Grieving families of slain duo relieved after court verdict

Miller’s family welcomed the death penalty for the two Myanmar migrant workers, who were found guilty of murdering the young British tourists and raping the woman in 2014. Witheridge’s family said they would focus on their memories of her.

“As the trial concludes and the verdict is delivered, our family, once again, find ourselves in the path of a whirlwind of emotions and difficulties. In these challenging times, we try to concentrate our efforts on remembering our beautiful Hannah for the fun, vibrant and incredible young woman that she was,” her family said in a statement.

Witheridge’s family, which had attended an earlier part of the trial, did not return to Thailand for the verdict by the Koh Samui Provincial Court yesterday.

Miller’s brother Michael said yesterday that the family was impressed by the workings of the Thai justice system.

“Over the last few months, we have attended many of the court sittings and we have gained real respect for this court,” he said. “The judges have been invariably diligent, attentive, fair and extraordinarily hard-working. This has been a comfort to us.”

Flanked by his parents as he spoke outside the court, Michael Miller said justice had been delivered, adding that the two men had shown no remorse for what they had done. 

“David always stood up for justice and justice is what has been delivered [yesterday],” he said, endorsing the work of the Thai police and the reliability of the forensic evidence.

“We believe what happened [yesterday] represents justice for Hannah and David,” said Miller. “The Royal Thai Police conducted a thorough and methodical investigation ... evidence against the two was overwhelming.”

Witheridge’s family, in their statement, said the trial had been distressing.

“The past year has served as an unimaginably impossible time for our family. We have found the trial process extremely difficult and our trips out to Thailand, to attend court, made for particularly distressing experiences,” the statement said. 

“We found listening to proceedings very challenging and we have had to endure a lot of painful and confusing information. We now need time, as a family, to digest the outcome of the trial and figure out the most appropriate way to tell our story.”