The case unfolding in Thailand centers on a young Spaniard, Daniel Sancho, who stands accused in a high-profile investigation into the death of Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta. Sancho has expressed to EFE, in an exclusive interview, his belief that he will be cleared because the incident occurred in self-defense, as a trial set for April 9 in Samui approaches.
Speaking from custody on the Thai island of Samui, the 29-year-old maintained that acquittal is possible if the court finds that self-defense shaped the events. The charge carries the weight of a murder verdict in a country known for its tough penalties for serious crimes.
In addition to the murder count, Sancho is accused of concealing the body after dismembering it. He has acknowledged the dismemberment and could face up to a year in jail for that act.
“Letting my voice be heard at last”
The Spaniard, who initially admitted to the crime and has been in provisional detention since August, said he is in good spirits and ready for the proceedings to begin. The trial is scheduled to run from April 9 to May 3 in a Samui court.
“(I feel) ready to confront it, to finally be heard and to clear the distortions, misunderstandings, and all the lies that have been said,” the defendant stated during visits by EFE to the prison on March 13 and 14.
Following two months of police work, prosecutors say Sancho planned the killing and used force to take Arrieta’s life, though the exact method remains unclear.
“My aim at the trial is to prove that it was self-defense. I will show what really happened,” the defendant reiterated, answering questions through a glass barrier with a telephone in the prison visitation room, where devices are restricted.
Sancho maintains that Arrieta’s death, which occurred on August 2 in a bungalow on the nearby island of Phangan, resulted from a fight in which the Colombian allegedly struck his own head. He says he did not initiate the confrontation and that the outcome was fatal in a way he could not have predicted.
“It was a fight I did not start, and it ended fatally in a way I could not have predicted,” explained the chef by training and a partner in a catering company. He did admit to dismembering the body and dispersing the remains in several locations on the island, including the sea.
The autopsy on Arrieta, included in the case dossier, did not establish a conclusive cause of death due to missing body parts, including the torso.
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Sancho and Arrieta, who connected online roughly a year earlier through a shared interest in gastronomy, had planned a meeting for August 2 on the Thai island known for its full-moon gatherings. The Spaniard arrived two days earlier and planned a several-week stay.
The young man, son of actor Rodolfo Sancho and investment analyst Silvia Bronchalo, was taken into police custody when he went to report his friend’s disappearance. He was formally arrested two days later after confessing to the crime. With less than three weeks to go before the trial, media attention remains intense, and Sancho is preparing his defense daily, maintaining faith in Thailand’s judicial system.
“I think justice will be done when I am heard at last,” the young man said, noting he did not yet know which days he would testify and that he would do so with a Spanish interpreter.
Sancho will be represented by a Thai public defender, Aprichat Srinuel, and supported by a Madrid-based legal team led by attorney Marcos García Montes.
Three charges
Thai prosecutors accuse him of three offenses: beyond murder and concealment of the corpse, Sancho faces a charge of destroying the victim’s passport, which carries a penalty of up to five years in prison. The Arrieta family will appear at the trial as co-prosecutors through a Spanish firm and a Thai legal team, who recently stated that the prosecutor holds more than 50 pieces of evidence indicating premeditation, such as knives purchased by the defendant the day before the events.
The trial in the Samui Provincial Court is expected to be lengthy, with at least 14 sessions in which roughly 50 witnesses will testify. A verdict could come four to eight weeks after the proceedings begin.