The trial against the Spaniard Daniel Sancho, son of the actor Rodolfo Sancho, for the alleged murder of the Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta in August in Thailand already has a date. It will be held from April 9 to May 3 at the Samui Island Provincial Court and will have at least 57 witnesses between all parties.
In a hearing that took place yesterday in the Samui court, the judge set, taking into account the number of witnesses, the dates of the trial, which will last 15 working days, from Tuesday to Friday. The hearing was held behind closed doors for more than three hours and was attended by the accused, who has been in prison since August 7, and his mother, Silvia Bronchalo.
The Prosecutor's Office will have 28 witnesses, including numerous police officers and experts, as well as waiters and people who had contact with Sancho in Phangan, as well as those who found Arrieta's remains. The lawyers representing Arrieta's family have called for two to testify, including the victim's parents, who only count as one. The defense, for its part, will go there with at least 27 witnesses. Thailand provides for the death penalty for premeditated murder, a crime Sancho is accused of, although he has pleaded not guilty. Nor has he admitted to a second crime, that of destroying other people's documentation (with reference to Arrieta's passport). On the other hand, he did admit to a third crime, that of having made parts of the victim's body disappear.
On the first day of the trial, both the defense and the prosecutor as well as the lawyers representing the victim's family will be able to make a five-minute opening statement, and then the testimony of witnesses will begin, which will be in person.
The first to testify will be the prosecution witnesses, who will give way to those cited by Sancho's lawyer, attorney-at-law Aprichat Srinuel. When this process is over on May 3, the parties will be able to make a final argument and another date will be set to read the decision, as the judge established today in a closed-door hearing.
The young man, son and grandson, respectively, of the Spanish actors Rodolfo Sancho and Sancho Gracia, a fact that gave the case high media interest from the beginning, has been serving a provisional sentence in Samui prison since August 7.
