Accidental butcher. In Thailand, Daniel Sancho left the prosecutor, the judge and the lawyer of his alleged victim, whose torso has still not appeared, with their mouths open this Monday. The son of actor Rodolfo Sancho - who accompanied him to his first hearing with a translator at the Samui court - has changed the script by pleading not guilty to the charge of premeditated murder of Edwin Arrieta.
All of this is in line with his new defense strategy leaked a few days ago, according to which his Colombian friend and sponsor would have had an accidental death after hitting himself in the bathroom, during a fight with which he did not want to accept the breakup, that fateful night of beginning of August.
Of the three charges presented by the prosecutor - after a two-month investigation - and read by the magistrate, Sancho has only accepted the one that carries the lowest penalty, one year in prison. That of hiding the torn body of the surgeon, with whom this time he had met very far from Spain, to spend the full moon party on the island of Phangan.
Likewise, the confessed ex-murderer also does not acknowledge having made Arrieta's passport disappear, whom the local press presents as his lover.
It should be remembered that the Spaniard Daniel Sancho, 29, has been in provisional prison since August 7. The judge should have read the charges to him at the hearing on October 26, which was postponed at the request of the accused, who requested a Spanish interpreter, after having been content until then, during the interrogations, with an English interpreter.
This change could be part of the defense strategy, aimed at invalidating the self-incriminating statements previously made by Sancho.
It is also striking that Sancho's family - advised by two Spanish law firms - does not yet have a Thai lawyer, as is required, after disagreeing with the defensive prudence of the first, Anan Chuayprabat,
When this circumstance occurred, the court assigned Sancho a public defender, who this Monday was rejected by the interested party, who did, however, have consular assistance.
The plot twist will force prosecutor Jeerawat Sawatdichai to have to prove the alleged premeditation in view of the new hearing, scheduled for November 27. In this the judge will appoint a new public defender and should accept that Arrieta's family appear in the accusation.
The trial, according to the prosecution, should be held on the same tourist island of Samui between February and April. In all likelihood, the son of Rodolfo Sancho and Silvia Bronchalo will begin serving his sentence - whatever it may be - in Bangkok's high-security prison.
For the Thais, the Sancho case is dead and buried, since the super agent nicknamed Big Joke closed it, considering his guilt proven and the capital punishment as the relevant sentence.
Furthermore, it is no longer new, in a country in which every week - if not every day - some morbid crime with a foreign protagonist is recorded.
On the other hand, several of Arrieta's relatives have recently expressed the economic disaster that his death has caused. The plastic surgeon lived in the Recreo neighborhood of Montería, one of the most exclusive strongholds of the Colombian oligarchy, a stone's throw from the gigantic El Ubérrimo estate of former president Álvaro Uribe.
In Thailand, by the way, no one gets out of prison early without having paid their debt to the victim's family. Sancho's retraction, if not well received by the three magistrates who will judge him, could have an effect opposite to that desired.
