This Wednesday, April 17, the second week of the trial against Daniel Sancho began after the recess since last Thursday due to the celebration of Songkran or Buddhist New Year. In this way, the provincial court of Koh Samui resumed the trial against the 29-year-old Spanish chef, who could be sentenced to capital punishment for the murder of Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta last August.
The procedure, which began on April 9, resumed with the same rules as the first week: closed-door hearings and the prohibition of reporting on what happens in the oral hearing. During this week, about twenty witnesses will pass through the Koh Samui Provincial Court to testify before the court, most of them will be police officers who were in charge of the investigation.
However, during the first week of the trial, it came to light that the testimonies of the parents and sister of the Colombian surgeon were going to be left out of the judicial process because the court did not have the necessary means for them to testify by videoconference from Colombia. The lawyer for Edwin Arrieta’s family, Juan Gonzalo Ospina, spoke about this matter this Wednesday with the magazine Lecturas.
The lawyer, who has been coordinating the first sessions of the trial with the Thai legal team, assured that the initial idea was for the surgeon’s family to testify by videoconference from Colombia. But the lack of technical means caused the idea to be rejected. Even so, the court offered the possibility for them to provide documents or for a close person to convey their words.
As the lawyer revealed to the aforementioned media, the surgeon’s sister, Darling Arrieta, will travel to Spain this coming Thursday, April 18, to try to testify from here. ”It is preferable that he do it from Madrid, since the difference is five hours with Thailand and not 12, as is the case with Colombia,” said Juan Gonzalo Ospina. However, Darling’s testimony is still up in the air, since that the authorities would not have given the green light to this proposal, at least for now.
Furthermore, the criminal lawyer assured that the main objective is to show the judge the “feelings” of the family and explain the economic damage they were facing after the surgeon’s death. And as has been revealed on several occasions, Edwin Arrieta made monthly income to his family. On the other hand, Ospina assured that his intention was to also demonstrate in court that the family “is pending the trial and does not remain uninvolved.”
