"I've been affected a lot," said Warot Tuwichian, a 22-year-old Bangkok University student. "I haven't attended classes since the incident occurred because people keep asking me if I am the killer. People on social media also harangued me."
Mr Warot, son of headman Woraphan Tuwichian, was named last week by police and media as a suspect in the September 15 killings of Britons Hannah Witheridge, 23, and David Miller, 24, and his photo circulated on social media. Numerous reports said he "had fled Koh Tao" after the murders and “was hiding in Bangkok" where police were searching for him.
It turns out Warot wasn't in Koh Tao at the time and he has time-stamped security-camera footage to prove it. Police officially cleared him of any involvement on September 25.
"I am scared and now only my close friends understand me," Mr Warot, accompanied by his lawyer, said at a press conference today (September 30) at Metropolitan Police Bureau where he came to affirm his innocence.
Lawyer Attakorn On-arj submitted to police images taken from CCTV cameras showing Mr Warot was at his Bangkok apartment September 14-15, along with documents confirming that he showed up for an exam on September 15.
Mr Woraphan, who submitted to questioning by police in Surat Thani around the same time, also objected strenuously to his son being accused. He offered police B1 million if they could prove that Mr Warot was involved in the killings.
The headman and family patriarch, whose brother was also wrongly accused, has threatened legal action against media outlets that printed the accusations.
Read original story here.