On the third and final day of Daniel Sancho’s trial, before the Thai Songkran holidays (considered the Buddhist New Year), two of the police officers who intervened when the crime was uncovered testified in the Samui Court. Although the relative surprise has come from Juan Gonzalo Ospina, Spanish-Colombian lawyer for the family of the victim, Edwin Arrieta.
On the way to the airport, when questioned about whether there was contact between the family he co-represents and that of the accused, he flatly denied it, before admitting its possibility: “There is not, there has not been, it is not expected.” , nor do I think it will come. I also anticipate that if there were some type of rapprochement between the parties we would be happy to consider it, we are not looking for revenge, we are looking for justice.”
Until now, the actor Rodolfo Sancho, Daniel’s father, would have limited himself to offering “a message of mourning,” according to Ospina, son of a lawyer from Medellín and author of The Leading Lawyer, with a prologue by the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez -Almeida (PP).
Daniel Sancho’s father, who sits right behind his son in the courtroom – chained with thick shackles and wearing a mask – has not made any statement. Neither does the mother, Silvia Bronchalo, who has entered and left in another car. The session will resume next Wednesday.
Due to the information veto decided by the judge, little has been revealed about the trial, which takes place in Thai, although Daniel Sancho questions abundantly in English, or in Spanish, depending on the witness.
Ospina’s words do not help to dispel the fears unleashed by this trial that is being held behind closed doors, despite the interest aroused. In any case, as La Vanguardia has learned from a Colombian journalist who is a friend of the Arrieta family, they have been left in a vulnerable situation after losing the support of their son, who after earning a lot of money would have left a modest inheritance.
The news that the family of the alleged murderer could profit financially from the crime – Rodolfo Sancho would have signed a serialized interview with HBO – would have caused a sensation in his city of Lorica.
The only consolation they have left is that, apparently, the statements, in chronological order, of the witnesses would be “one hundred percent” proving the premeditation of the crime, which in Thailand can carry the capital punishment, even though it has not been applied. for six years.
Yesterday, Wednesday, the woman who charged Sancho for the large knives at the checkout of a Big C supermarket in Koh Phangan and the woman from the hardware store where the chef bought a saw “to cut coconuts” intervened. The judge looked shocked when he heard it, as La Vanguardia has learned. In Asia – as everywhere – coconuts are cut with a machete. At that moment, the benefit of the doubt that Sancho could enjoy could have suffered a definitive setback.
A certain aggressiveness in his interventions, together with irrelevant questions and nuances – in Asia, directly impertinent – would end up undermining any compassion for the confessed dismemberer, in a country fed up with a certain type of conflictive tourist who ruins the country’s vacation image.
His defense, to make matters worse, has been incomprehensibly left in the hands of a Thai public defender. The same goes for surgeon Arrieta, sacrificed in a bungalow on the island of Koh Phangan. Her lawyer in Colombia communicates by videoconference while the person who claims to represent her interests in Spain elevates her career on television.
