Daniel Sancho Trial Begins: The Spanish Chef Who Dismembered His Colombian Sugar Daddy In Thailand

On April 9, 2024, the trial of Daniel Sancho for the death of the Colombian surgeon, Edwin Arrieta, has begun. The Spanish chef will sit on the dock of the accused until May 3, in the meantime the statements of the witnesses that will be presented by the Thai Prosecutor’s Office and those of the defense will be produced.

He is accused of three crimes: premeditated murder, concealment of the body and destruction of other people’s documentation. However, Daniel Sancho has only assumed the crime of concealing the body. Likewise, the Spaniard has been able to interrogate two of the four witnesses who have testified today: the woman who found the body in the landfill and the owner of the bungalow.

The defendant has entered with his hands and feet handcuffed with shackles. An image that the lawyer of Arrieta’s family has described as “scaring.” In addition, he has assured that his face was “totally serene and calm.”

The trial will revolve around shedding light on the facts to be able to impose a sentence on Daniel Sancho. Depending on how this murder is classified, it may have the death penalty or life imprisonment.

Up to 50 witnesses are expected to pass through the court: the first by the Prosecutor’s Office, specifically 28, and 27 by the defense. Although the number of witnesses could vary. The defense had asked Arrieta’s lawyers to be witnesses, but the Samui Court rejected it, the testimony of the victim’s parents has also been canceled due to the lack of technical means and time difference.

The accusation will base the plea on the “predetermined murder” and they assert that 53 evidences of it will be presented. On the other hand, there is the defense of Daniel Sancho who has three keys to insist on “reckless homicide.” They assure that they have “prepared a 60-page report examining the evidence” and point out that in the reconstruction that the young Spaniard made of the events “there was no prosecutor, there was no judge, there was no lawyer and there were also police leaks.”

La muerte accidental, al contrario que el asesinato premeditado, no está penado con la condena a muerte, sino con 8 años de prisión.

The facts:

As I already had in another article, Sancho and Arrieta met on Instagram.

After having several intimate relationships in 2023, they planned a vacation from July 31 to August 3 in Koh Phangan (Thailand). Sancho was the first to arrive at the place, where he stayed in a hotel to spend a single night, since he would later stay with Arrieta in another place. It is key on August 1st since Daniel Sancho bought several knives, a saw, detergent, garbage bags and scourers.

On August 2, the events happen: both spend a dream day on the island and then move to the location of a luxurious hotel booked by the Colombian. Here comes Sancho’s first testimony, where he says that they had a fight in which he gave Arrieta a very strong blow and then cut his neck. The subsequent facts correspond to the dismemberment. He put the parts of the body in bags and that same night he made the remains disappear: he did it through a kayak that he rented and that he sailed through the sea throwing the pieces of body and then used the motorcycle at the beginning to take more remains to a landfill.

Then the accused returned to the hotel to clean the crime scene. Afterwards, the parts of Arrieta’s body that were in the landfill were found by workers. Meanwhile, Sancho continues to make his life on the island and goes to a party. The victim’s family begins to get angry because they didn’t know anything about him and they report the disappearance. The police come to interrogate Sancho, who appears with a suspicious appearance (cuts and scratches). At this moment the investigation begins and on August 4 he is arrested.

We will have to wait a few days, specifically until April 25, to hear the testimony in the trial of Daniel Sancho, the accused. However, it is believed that he follows the same line as some last words that he has said in an interview: “I am guilty, but I was Edwin’s hostage, he held me hostage, it was a glass cage. It made me destroy the relationship with my girlfriend, it has forced me to do things I would never have done,” he alleged on August 5.

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