Archive photography. Daniel Sancho, accused of the premeditated murder of Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta.
Photo: EFE – SOMKEAT RUKSAMAN
Three weeks ago the trial against the Spaniard Daniel Sancho began for the alleged murder of the Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta. Sancho, who pleads innocent and has been in provisional prison on the southern Thai island of Samui since August 7, faces three charges: premeditated murder, concealment of the body and destruction of other people’s documentation, and could face a sentence. maximum death penalty.
The trial has experienced ups and downs, but the main plot twist occurred a few days ago when the prosecutor in the case, Jeerawat Sawatdichai, questioned the premeditation of the crime after months of evidence and preliminary studies that convinced him of this.
A controversial decision just when the Arrieta family’s lawyer, Juan Gonzalo Ospina, reported to the newspaper Lecturas that he had seen the person in charge of the Prosecutor’s Office along with the chef’s defense lawyer, Aprichat Srinuel, “having drinks or having dinner” together in the evening. island.
For lawyer Ospina there is an alleged favoring of Daniel Sancho by Thai justice for some time now. The indications would be the rescheduling of Sancho’s testimony for Tuesday, April 30 due to a problem with the air conditioning, the change in the order of the testimony of the prosecution’s witnesses before Sancho’s final testimony and the change of translator from English to Spanish for one you trust.
Apparently, Sancho would also be having benefits in prison. “While he suffers from back pain to remain in the infirmary, he has not abandoned the weekly practice of Muay Thai in prison,” said Joaquín Campos, a journalist from The reason that has accompanied the entire case. Likewise, the Spanish media reported that family visits to Sancho exceed two hours.
According to an anonymous source close to the case who spoke with the newspaper 20minutes, “there are people from the court close to Daniel Sancho’s defense and with influence in the court.” A way to understand why the Arrieta family lawyer maintains that “very strange things are happening and always in favor of Daniel Sancho.”
Another of the complaints that have been generated around the case is due to the difficulty that the media have in reporting from the Samui court. The judge has been very strict with those who wanted to reveal what is happening in the sessions, he has even threatened them with complaints or, if necessary, deportations. For now, no one who leaked information has had serious problems, but there was the arrest of two journalists who reported for Cuatro programs, according to Lecturas.
On the other hand, according to sources of Readings, the father of the accused, the renowned Spanish actor Rodolfo Sancho, would have arrived in Thailand a month before the trial against his son began with the intention of “adapting” to this visit, but also to hire the services of a “fixer” called Alice who accompanies you every day to translate and get whatever you need during your stay. According to the sources that journalist Campos has accessed, this person also has “very powerful contacts” that would make it easier for him to pull strings.
For lawyer Ospina, the fact that the vice consul of the Spanish embassy is staying in a hotel to accompany Sancho in all the trial sessions, along with another translator from the embassy, is also striking, he commented.
Murder or accident?
Initially, the Prosecutor’s Office announced that it would maintain at trial that Arrieta’s death was a murder that Sancho had prepared. As evidence, he would present the garbage bags, cleaning products, knives and a saw that the perpetrator bought the day before.
Among the witnesses are two forensic police officers from the biological and DNA analysis center of the southern province of Yala, according to what was found EFE. The specialists declared that on at least one knife and a black T-shirt that supposedly belonged to doctor Arrieta there is DNA from both his and Sancho. There would also be a witness who rented a kayak to Sancho on the night of August 2, from which he allegedly threw part of the remains of Arrieta’s body into the sea. However, due to the limitations imposed by the judge on the press, the details of what happens during the trial are unknown.
For its part, the defense will seek to prove that Arrieta’s death was accidental and that it occurred during a fight, in addition to challenging part of Sancho’s initial statement, alleging that he was pressured to confess and other irregularities.
The Spanish chef went to the island’s police station on the night of August 3 to report Arrieta’s disappearance and from that moment, when he was already considered a suspect, he remained in police custody until his official arrest.
One of his defense arguments is based on possible irregularities committed during that period, in which Sancho supposedly did not have a lawyer and his status as a suspect was not clearly communicated to him while he was being interrogated.
New tests
During the days of the trial, a series of WhatsApp conversations between Darling Arrieta, the victim’s sister, and a woman were leaked that expressed fear about the surgeon’s life.
According to the media 20 minutes, which had access to the chats, there would be a motive behind the murder.
Here the conversation:
Naomi: Darling, your brother is not answering his cell phone, do you know anything about him? He told me yesterday that he was going to Thailand with the Spaniard to whom he had lent the money.
Darling: He just wrote to me. What Spanish is it? I don’t know any. Do you have his contact?
Naomi: I don’t know who he is, just that your brother told me about him. He told me that he was the guy from the restaurant, the one from the trips to Madrid.
Darling: What’s it called?
Naomi: I don’t know. He is the young boy, the one with the long hair in the photos. Your brother told me that he had argued because he didn’t want to return the money.
Darling: How come he didn’t want to return the money?
Naomi: The money, Darling. Edwin lent him a lot of money, almost 900,000,000 pesos.
Darling: Oh Lord. My parents can’t know. And how did my brother do that, for God’s sake?
Naomi: I don’t know, but I’m scared because it doesn’t show up. And that boy, all that money.
Darling: Dear God, I’m blocked. I don’t know what to do.
Everything has changed since April 9 when the trial began. At first it was believed that the maximum sentence for Sancho was practically guaranteed, but now everything is uncertain. This will be a key week because it is Sancho’s turn to give his final statement, as well as the witnesses chosen by the defense, who could qualify the conclusions of the prosecutor and the judge that, right now, seem to be favorable for the accused. .
For his part, Sancho exclusively told EFE that he is “convinced” that he will be “acquitted” because he acted in “self-defense.”
“(I feel) eager to face it, to finally be heard and to be able to clarify the distortions, the misunderstandings and all the lies that have been told,” said the accused during the visits that EFE He was imprisoned on March 13 and 14.
