A handout photo made available by Royal Thai Police shows a Spanish chef, a murder suspect Daniel Jeronimo Sancho Bronchalo, (C) is escorted by Thai police officers during a crime reenactment at a scene in Koh Phangan island, southern Thailand, 06 August 2023. EFE-EPA/ROYAL THAI POLICE HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

A handout photo made available by Royal Thai Police shows a Spanish chef, a murder suspect Daniel Jeronimo Sancho Bronchalo, (C) is escorted by Thai police officers during a crime reenactment at a scene in Koh Phangan island, southern Thailand, 06 August 2023. EFE-EPA/ROYAL THAI POLICE HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES

Spanish murder suspect to present case before Thai judge

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Koh Phangan, Thailand, Aug 7 (EFE).- Thailand’s police said Monday they would transfer a Spanish man suspected of murdering and dismembering a Colombian surgeon to the island of Koh Samui, where he will be taken to court, police sources told EFE.

People work at a garbage dump site, where body parts of a Colombian man were found, in Koh Phangan island, Surat Thani province, southern Thailand, 06 August 2023. EFE-EPA/SITTHIPONG CHAROENJAI

Daniel Sancho will be transferred from Koh Phangan, where the incident that killed 44-year-old Edwin Arrieta occurred, before a judge decides whether to press charges against the Spaniard. If so, the suspect would likely be imprisoned until trial. The possibility that he would be released on bail is low given the gravity of the case.

A handout photo made available by Royal Thai Police shows Spanish chef Daniel Jeronimo Sancho Bronchalo, 29, sitting next to evidence, after he was arrested for murder and dismembering the body of a Colombian man, at a hotel in Koh Phangan island, Surat Thani province, southern Thailand, 05 August 2023 (issued 06 August 2023). EFE-EPA/ROYAL THAI POLICE EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES/FILE

“I want to help as much as I can,” the suspect said Monday.

Sources told EFE that Sancho meanwhile continues at the Koh Phangan police station.

The 29-year-old has been there since undergoing questioning Friday as a suspect, when he allegedly confessed to the murder Saturday. He said police have treated him well during the process.

The suspect’s father, actor Rodolfo Sancho, has hired a private law firm for the man’s defense, sources close to the case told EFE, although he is currently being represented by a Thai public defender.

The private lawyer could start representing him from Monday, once Sancho is transferred to Samui.

Part of Arrieta’s remains were found Thursday and Friday in the tourist resort of Koh Phangan according to the police report, some of them in a landfill on the island. Police confirmed that they belong to Arrieta.

Sancho told EFE on Sunday that he committed the crime.

“I am guilty, but I was Edwin’s hostage. He held me hostage. It was a glass cage, but it was a cage,” he said.

According to the police report, Sancho arrived on Koh Phangan on July 31 and on Tuesday bought knives and black and green garbage bags from a shop on the island.

He said Arrieta did not arrive on the island until Wednesday, and that Sancho went to pick him up (at the arrival point of the ferry from Samui) at 3:05pm. Both then went to a bar near the Bougain hotel, where they stayed until 6:00pm to then go elsewhere.

Sancho himself reported the disappearance Thursday night at the Koh Phangan police station. EFE

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