The trial of Daniel Sancho will end on Thursday in a tragicomic way with a coconut in the courtroom. It will not be a metaphor for the severed head of surgeon Edwin Arrieta, but this Thai coconut will represent itself.
Because the last witness in the grueling trial of Daniel Sancho is nothing less than a chef. A cook of undisclosed nationality who will try to convince the judge of the culinary use of chatrac.
The young Spaniard, as is known, bought one before dismembering his Colombian friend or lover, Edwin Arrieta. But this circumstance is irrelevant for the defense, which claims that Sancho, like any tourist on the crazy island of Phangan, bought chats and knives for a noble cause, even if he later used them for what he used them for. In your case, with the aim of uploading cooking videos to YouTube.
The same reason, in short, that he booked the most secluded bungalow at Bougain Villas, in Koh Phangan, even though he already had another one.
These challenges to reason were exploited yesterday by the Prosecutor's Office and the prosecution lawyers, but without bloodshed. Although Sancho would have put up with the guy during the morning interrogation, in the afternoon, in a less tense context, he burst into tears, according to some voices. Others deny it.
As is well known, the trial in Sancho Gracia's net takes place behind closed doors, with no cameras or journalists in the room and no news.
Yesterday's session was exhausting, as it lasted ten hours, and, until well into the afternoon, it was believed that it would be the last. There was only time to listen to the intervention of a forensic doctor and psychologist, Manuel Carrillo and Pedro Mateo, who had arrived from Spain to try to prove that the bruise on the plastic surgeon's skull was compatible with an accident, as Sancho has lately maintained .
An attempt was also made to justify the panic that prevented Daniel Sancho from reviving his bedmate or seeking help, when he had the opportunity to do so. Instead, he chose to desecrate the corpse, dismember it and scatter it before reporting its strange disappearance to the police station, in the face of desperate messages from Colombia, from the deceased's sister.
Along with these irreproachable professionals, a much darker character from an American evangelical organization has appeared in Samui, with the intention of revealing the alleged dark side of Edwin Arrieta, who can no longer be defended. As if in Samui the victim was being tried, instead of the perpetrator.
The judge has not accepted this "witness" that came out of nowhere, with the argument that it has nothing to do with the case and that he intended to declare anonymously that Arrieta was "a monster", with dubious sources of income.
Be that as it may, after four weeks, the trial of Daniel Sancho will be heard this Thursday for sentencing. Between the lawyers on the two benches, the expressions are much more relaxed since yesterday. The same confidence is observed in Rodolfo Sancho, father of the accused, and his legal team. Premeditation makes the difference in Thailand between a hefty sentence and the death penalty.
Someone will be disappointed. But it will not be today - when Daniel Sancho will have the opportunity to make a final plea -, but on the day - which will be known today - when the sentence will be handed down, the next day.
The prosecution warns that if justice is not done to the Arrieta family, they will appeal to the Supreme Court, and the Sancho case will continue to roll and roll.
