Knifeman Surasak Suwannachote pleading guilty to murdering Mrs Smith. For this he faces a possible death penalty.
Surasak appeared calm and unconcerned during the hearing, chatting and smiling with another prisoner.
However, Surin Tadtong, the man who drove the motorbike used in the attack, initially denied a charge of aiding the killing of Mrs Smith and another charge of conspiracy to rob. He did admit disposing of the knife used by Surasak in the attack.
Surin appeared confused and distressed during questioning by the judge, breaking down in tears on three occasions, wiping the tears away with his shirt.
Although he pleaded guilty to the third charge, admitting that it was he who had thrown the knife away after the murder, he at first pleaded not guilty to the other two charges, then changed his plea to guilty to both, before changing it back again to not guilty to both counts.
Finally, after being shown the CCTV footage of the attack (below), he once again changed his plea on the two major charges to guilty.
The trial continues.
In Perth, Mrs Smith's brother Alan Gordon told the West Australian he hopes Surasak is sentenced to death.
“It might sound callous but I hope he gets the death penalty,” Mr Gordon said.
He added that he and some of his siblings had this week watched a video of his sister’s funeral service and had relived the heartbreak of her death.
“We said it would be nice to show that in court, to show what a great person she was and the people her death affected,” he said.
“Michelle had a lot to live for. “If that’s their law, I hope [both men] get the death penalty.”