Daniel Sancho prepared ‘for the best and worst’ in Thai murder sentencing

Daniel Sancho says he is prepared “for the best and for the worst” ahead of the sentencing ruling on August 29 that will determine whether or not he is guilty of the premeditated murder of Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta on an island in Thailand last year. Sancho, a Spanish national, faces the death penalty under a request from the prosecution.

According to sources familiar with the country’s judicial system, capital punishment is only applied in cases where the victims are members of the security forces or high-ranking government officials, and there are no known recent instances of a foreign national being executed. It is customary for King Maha Vajiralongkorn to take advantage of special dates, such as his birthday, to apply such pardons, as was the case in 2020 when another Spanish citizen, Artur Segarra, sentenced to death in 2017 for murdering and dismembering businessman David Bernat in Bangkok, had his sentence commuted to life imprisonment.

“I am prepared for the best and for the worst,” Sancho told EFE on August 22 in Samui prison in southern Thailand, when asked how he faces the ruling. The 29-year-old said he was optimistic the judge will rule out Arrieta’s death being a case of premeditated murder. The element of premeditation is key because, if it is not proven, the death penalty cannot be imposed.

Sancho believes that during the trial “it was clear that it was an accident,” referring to Arrieta’s death on August 2, 2023 on the Thai island of Koh Pha-ngan, citing forensic evidence presented by the defense that, according to him, would prove the death occurred during a fight. The defendant and Arrieta, 44, had arranged to meet that day on Koh Pha-ngan, a popular tourist destination known for hosting the full moon party, when the beaches are filled with revelers dancing until dawn. Sancho arrived a couple of days beforehand and planned to stay in the area for a few weeks. The following day, he reported his friend missing. The Spaniard was formally arrested two days later.

Although he initially confessed to the crime, Sancho has since claimed that Arrieta died accidentally as the result of an altercation. In addition to the charges of premeditated murder and destroying the victim’s passport, which Sancho has pleaded not guilty to, he is accused of dismembering Arrieta and concealing the body, which he has admitted.

The trial against Sancho, the son of actor Rodolfo Sancho and grandson of another celebrated performer, the late Sancho Gracia, concluded in May with a closing argument in which the defendant lamented the harm he had caused to the victim’s family. “I am sorry that a life has been lost and that parents have lost a son,” Sancho told the court. “I am sorry that his family was not able to bury him properly. I’m sorry for what I did after the death,” he added in a hearing that was held behind closed doors despite an imposing media deployment for an almost-secret trial.

The Colombian doctor’s family oppose a potential death penalty for Sancho, on the basis of religious beliefs, their lawyer said in August 2023. “We definitely do not want the death penalty because our family is very religious,” Miguel González, the family’s lawyer, told France Presse at the time.

The prosecution, however, insisted during the trial on Sancho’s lack of remorse. During the trial they asked him questions that they understood to be unresolved, such as the reasons why he did not ask for help when he found himself in that situation or why he dismembered the victim.

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