The murder of the Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta was one of the most gruesome and unexpected news of 2023. The victim was dismembered in Thailand, sparking a long and media investigation in Spain, with the main suspect being the Spaniard Daniel Sancho. Since last August, the cook has remained under arrest, awaiting a trial that will begin in Asian territory this morning.
While waiting for the first statements, the accused’s lawyer has tried to give some answers about what will happen in TardeAR. Marcos García-Montes shared with Ana Rosa Quintana and the rest of the collaborators several details of what may happen to his client from now on. It is not the first television appearance of the lawyer, who in recent months has taken up much of the television coverage.
García-Montes recalled some of the problems during the autopsy that, in his opinion, were the fault of the Thai investigators. To begin with, there was no marked date of death, impossible to determine due to the lack of so-called “soft remains.” Secondly, a cause of death is not specified either, but a blunt injury to the skull could be detected, coinciding with the supposed fatal fall.
After that, the lawyer pointed out that the skeletal remains did not have any type of knife wound, before recalling the mistakes caused by the photographic report leaked to the press and the multitude of errors in the documents, from the lack of translation into Spanish to the absence of some signatures. In fact, the Spanish version forced the hearing to be postponed and all procedures delayed, when Sancho testified four times.
These statements were made just 10 hours before the start of the trial. In the worst case scenario, Sancho faces being sentenced to death, all if the Samui provincial court finds that it was a premeditated murder and not manslaughter. The latter is the thesis supported by the defense, which could leave the accused with a minimum prison sentence of between three and five years.
The hearing will last until Friday, May 3 and is expected to contain between fourteen and fifteen sessions in total. Starting on April 25, Daniel Sancho and his father Rodolfo will testify before the judge, adding to the more than thirty testimonies cited by the prosecutor. Once the final arguments have been presented, the court will take between four and eight weeks to present a verdict in this complicated case.
