Koh Tao: The most worrying missing link

Songdej Praditsmanont has dug up more details from the Koh Tao murder case: “Forensic scientist Pornthip Rojanasunan, who was the expert witness for the defence, agreed, possibly through cross-examination, that some parts of the defendants’ DNA could disappear from the hoe through wiping.”

No DNA from either defendant was found on the hoe – either because they never touched it or because they did an extremely effective job of wiping it off so as to leave only traces of previous users’ DNA.

Pornthip “said her laboratory’s independent forensic analysis had found no DNA matches from the two accused on the alleged murder weapon, the hoe”, reported Britain’s Daily Telegraph. The same report then makes this shocking revelation: “The police had already acknowledged that they made no attempt to obtain DNA from the item, despite its central role in their case.”

Can people be convicted of murder without any evidence linking them to the murder weapon? And why did police show no interest in examining the DNA found on the hoe? If DNA can be wiped off, can it in turn be added?

Evidence suggests there could be three separate cases here – a murder, a rape and then a theft – each perhaps involving different perpetrators and having nothing to do with the two men convicted of the crime.

A Johnsen