The countdown to the start of the trial that will determine the future of Daniel Sancho, who faces a possible capital punishment, has begun with a twist of the script. The lawyers of Rodolfo Sancho’s son, who has been in prison in Koh Samui since August 7 for allegedly killing and dismembering the Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta, surprised yesterday with an unexpected press conference in which they dropped some bombs . To begin with, the lawyers claimed that the young man never confessed to intentionally killing the surgeon. And they denounced that “the action of the Thai police has been full of irregularities”. “They tricked him until he confessed”, they assured, promising him deportation after two days and mistranslating his statement.
The son of the well-known actor, who will be tried from April 9, is represented by the Chippirrás-Balfagón office and the media lawyer Marcos García-Montes. The three faces visible in Spain were arranged on an elongated table to ensure that Sancho did not intentionally kill Arrieta, but hit him during a fight to defend himself from sexual assault, which led to the accidental death of the doctor . The lawyers did admit that he got rid of the body. Faced with these facts, García-Montes warned that they will get him tried for reckless homicide, for which he would have to serve a sentence of between eight and ten years in prison. If so, the young man could be transferred to Spain after three or four years.
Carmen Balfagón, with a face of visible force and determination, publicly denounced the malpractice of the agents of the Asian country, who promised her client to be deported to Spain as soon as he confessed. Something that did not happen, because “the Thai police did not have legal or legal correspondence to make a deportation order”. Likewise, he clearly pointed out that Daniel Sancho did not confess to having killed Arrieta at any time and that the statement was mistranslated.
“Daniel stated that there was a fight and an attempt at sexual assault, he defended himself and the result was death”, explained the lawyer before assuring that this “is not what the police transcribe ”, but they translate that he did it intentionally and that he did, in fact, buy tools to commit the crime. “Daniel didn’t buy anything to kill anyone, he already said he bought the material to make some cooking videos,” Balfagón said. “The action of the police is a shame”, he finished. Despite this, the lawyers made clear their “full confidence” in the country’s justice system.
The lawyer insisted that the police deceived her client to get what he wanted. After that, he showed a series of photographs in which the accused, already arrested, could be seen eating a hamburger with nine officers. Something he said they did to build him enough confidence to achieve his goal.
On the other hand, Marcos García-Montes put on the table the first statements that Sancho had to make in English, and not in his language. “It’s all absolutely irregular. They take him on a long pilgrimage through all the diligences, there is that presumed reconstruction of the cave events in which the police tell him everything he has to say in English. If he is deceived, it has no procedural value whatsoever”.
The defense also showed photographs that would have been taken by the police and leaked by the same security forces in which you can see bites and scratches on the arms of Daniel Sancho, allegedly taken by Arrieta and which would demonstrate the fight before the death.
“What we have come to explain today is that Daniel was illegally arrested for 48 hours, without a lawyer and without being read his rights, after signing a document in Thai,” summarized the team. “We seek the annulment of the police investigation. We have been silent until we have heard the prosecutor. Previous research should be burned, eliminated. Spain must know what has happened to the police”, concluded García-Montes.
