Daniel Sancho's defense, before the trial: “We want him to start being heard”

Daniel Sancho, son of the popular actor Rodolfo Sancho, has been on trial in a Thai court since this Tuesday for one of the most high-profile cases in recent months, the death and dismemberment of the Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta last August. The defendant faces the death penalty, in the worst of situations, but in the team of lawyers in charge of his defense - which includes two Spanish law firms and a group of advisors in Thailand, as well as a public defender - He prefers not to place himself in that scenario. With the trial ahead, and after the number two of the Thai police, who directed and defended the investigation, has been relieved of his duties for his involvement in a money laundering case, lawyers are confident that the evidence and Sancho's testimony manages to convince the court. “We face the trial wanting to truly begin to be heard. Only he knows what happened that day,” explains Ramón Chippirrás, criminologist and jurist at the Balfagón & Chippirrás firm. “We trust one thousand percent in the justice system of Thailand, but not in the Police,” adds lawyer Marcos García-Montes, who is also part of the defense. Sancho will argue that he acted in self-defense and that the victim died from a blow to the head after an argument in the hotel room they shared on the island of Koh Phangan.

Sancho, 29, and Arrieta, 44, had agreed to meet on August 2 in Koh Pangan, a very tourist island known for hosting the full moon party, in which the beaches are filled with people celebrating with music until dawn. The Spaniard arrived a couple of days before the appointment and planned to stay in the area for a few weeks. On August 3, he reported that his friend had disappeared and was formally arrested two days later, after confessing to the crime. In addition to the charge of premeditated murder, to which Sancho has pleaded not guilty, he is accused of dismembering him and hiding his body, something he has admitted to. Also destroying the victim's passport. The autopsy has not been able to determine a conclusive cause of death because some of the victim's body parts, such as the torso, have not been found.

This is the image of Daniel Sancho's arrival in Koh Phangan (Thailand), on July 31. The photo was shown this morning by the local police.

Daniel Sancho, captured on a supermarket camera the day after his arrival in Koh Phangan. He buys knives, large garbage bags and cleaning supplies. Thai police maintain that he was preparing the murder of his friend Edwin.

Daniel Sancho and Edwin Arrieta, captured by a street camera after arriving on the island. It's August 2nd. The crime is about to be perpetrated.

Daniel Sancho, with parts of Edwin Arrieta's body. The Thai police maintain that in that blue bag the Spaniard was transporting parts of the Colombian's dismembered body.

The discovery of body parts in a landfill on the paradisiacal island begins the police investigation. It is August 3, and Arrieta's family begins to get restless.

These are the bags with Arrieta's remains that the police rescued from the landfill. You can also see the underwear that the Colombian supposedly wore.

Image provided this morning by the Thai police of the search in the village where the murder and dismemberment was carried out. You can still see the welcome sign with Daniel's name and a heart.

This was one of the first photos of the investigation. It shows Sancho handcuffed and in custody in the crime room.

A key photo. The lying man follows Sancho's instructions in reconstructing the murder. He tells her where he placed the body, how and the dismemberment process.

Daniel Sancho accompanies the police to reconstruct the entire sequence of the murder, dismemberment and concealment of the body of Edwin Arrieta. SOMKEAT RUKSAMAN (EFE)

The photo shows an Edwin Arrieta t-shirt that shows the supposed entry hole of a stab wound in the chest of the garment.

This police image shows the sections into which the confessed murderer supposedly divided the body. According to the explanations, the parts marked in green are those found for now.

The Thai Police accuse Daniel Sancho of having planned the crime because, among other evidence, he was recorded buying various kitchen utensils, such as knives and cleaning products, in supermarkets. “We are going to prove that he bought them for a totally different cause,” explains Chippirrás. “There will be witnesses who will say what I was going to use this for,” he adds. The Spaniard has chef training and is a partner in a

catering

company . García-Montes explains that they have prepared a report, which they will present at the trial, with which they want to denounce to the court the “illegal and null” evidence incorporated by the police investigators. The lawyer emphasizes that there is a series of photographs, which are part of the case, that show injuries that Sancho had, such as a scratch on his back or bites on his forearms, which corroborate his client's version that he suffered an attempted murder. rape by Arrieta, something that, according to the lawyer, would fit criminally with an accidental death or reckless homicide and whose penalties are substantially lower, between six and ten years in prison.

Daniel Sancho has been in preventive detention for eight months, since August 7. The trial begins this Tuesday, April 9, 10,500 kilometers from Madrid, but the ins and outs of the investigation are starring in numerous hours on television programs in Spain and a documentary series is even being produced on HBO Max about the case.

In the first session, the prosecutor will present a first report, in which he is expected to request a conviction of premeditated murder, which carries the death penalty, and will call about 30 witnesses, including the agents who carried out the investigation, the coroner or the workers of the municipal garbage dump where some of the victim's remains were found, according to what the parties in the case have reported. The accused is not expected to testify until April 25. The Thai judicial system can foster different images of the trials held in Spain, as it allows Daniel Sancho to question witnesses from the public prosecutor's office or for lawyers to propose, if they wish, that the prosecutor testify. The defense will summon between 28 and 30 witnesses, and will also rely on reports from forensic medicine, psychology and psychiatry, or from experts in similar cases. He is scheduled to be heard for sentencing on May 3 and the ruling will take approximately a month to be issued.

“Positive quality standards”

The lawyers that Edwin Arrieta's family has appointed in Spain trust that the evidence speaks for itself. “We were able to get to the trial thanks to the work of the police,” lawyer Juan Carlos Ospina said this Monday, in Samui, the island where the trial will be held, located in the south of Thailand. Ospina added that the investigations have had “very positive quality standards,” Efe reports.

The team in charge of Sancho's defense criticizes that the deputy director of the Thai Police, Surachate Hakparm, went so far as to say in a press conference held in August that Edwin Arrieta was stabbed to death "without any type of scientific support" and based on an image of an iPad with the victim's shirt. “A police report from September 12 answers that none of the knives produced that cut on the shirt,” they argue. After the trial, they hope not to face a death sentence, especially because Sancho has collaborated with the investigation from the beginning and because in recent years this sentence has been commuted. Sources familiar with the judicial system of the Asian country assure that the capital punishment is only applied in cases in which the victims are members of the security forces or senior government officials, and there are no known cases in which the executed was a citizen. foreign. They trust that, in the event that he receives an alternative sentence for reckless homicide, Sancho will be able to return to Spain when he has served a third of the sentence.