The second week of the trial against Daniel Sancho for the murder of Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta began this Wednesday in Koh Samui. After the five-day break for the celebration of Songkran or Buddhist New Year, the judicial process, which began on April 9 and will last until May 3, resumed its activity with the statements of several police officers. police who participated in the investigation of the case.
However, the procedure has resumed in the Koh Samui Provincial Court with a big novelty. Rodolfo Sancho’s son has decided to dispense with the translation from Thai to Spanish that he had requested in view of his trial, where he could be sentenced to capital punishment.
This unexpected last-minute change is mainly due to the problems that occurred at the beginning of the judicial process with translations by videoconference, according to the EFE agency.
Even so, the 29-year-old Spanish chef has had an English interpretation since last Thursday from a member of his team of advisors in Thailand in charge of his defense. Additionally, the translation is verified by an official at the Samui court, where the murder trial is taking place.
Sancho has been experiencing these translation problems since his arrest in August 2023. However, the problem intensified this past week when the Spanish chef could not fluently follow the statements of the witnesses or what the judge, the prosecutor and his own lawyer because the interpreter only translated the end of the interventions.
For this reason, the accused had requested a private translator from Thai to English, as confirmed by the aforementioned media. In addition, he himself will be in charge of questioning the witnesses, with prior authorization from the judge. Although the Spanish translation has been rejected by Daniel Sancho, it will be available again in the procedure when the Spanish witnesses testify starting on April 25, right in the final stretch of the trial, which will conclude on May 3.
It should be remembered that the accused had always testified in English, until on October 26, he requested for the first time a translator from Thai to Spanish. A request that forced him to delay his statement before the judge for three weeks. Likewise, Daniel Sancho’s public defender, Apirchat Srinual, revealed this Wednesday that the Spanish chef was “less frustrated” due to the improvement with the translation.
