Starting this Tuesday, the trial against the young Spaniard Daniel Sancho, accused of the premeditated murder of the Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta, for which he could be sentenced to life imprisonment, has been held on the island of Samui (southern Thailand).
In this first session, the young man will be supported by the Thai public defender Aprichat Srinuel and the defense will argue during the trial that Arrieta’s death was due to an accident during a fight, in which he would have acted in self-defense.
In addition, the Spaniard will be accompanied by his father, the well-known actor Rodolfo Sancho, who has arrived smiling and calm at the Provincial Court of Koh Samui. He has not made any statement at his entrance, despite the insistence of the journalists who were waiting for him at the entrance.
Since his arrest for the murder of the Colombian, the interpreter has been involved in the defense strategy of his son, who has changed lawyers on several occasions. In addition, he has visited him while he remained in provisional prison until the start of the trial.
The oral trial began around 9:45 local time (GMT 7) in the provincial court of Samui and it is expected that in the first session all parties will make an opening statement and testify four witnesses from the Prosecutor’s Office who agreed with Sancho on the nearby island of Phangan, scene of the alleged crime on August 2.
The people who plan to testify this Tuesday are a woman who found the first remains of the deceased in a landfill in Phangan, the one who rented a motorcycle to Sancho on the island and the managers of the two hotels where the accused stayed, one of them in which the alleged murder took place.
For his part, the prosecutor in charge of the case, Jeerawat Sawatdichai, will try to prove that it was a premeditated murder by the young Spaniard. Sancho, who initially confessed to the crime, later pleaded not guilty to the premeditated murder, although he accepted the charge of hiding the body, dismembered and scattered in various places.
Sancho and Arrieta met in 2022 through Instagram due to their common interest in gastronomy and had seen each other several times in Spain before meeting in Phangan.
