Daniel Sancho awaits sentencing for the death and dismemberment of Edwin Arrieta in Thailand

Daniel Sancho will learn on Thursday August 29 whether the Thai court that has tried him for the death and dismemberment of the Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta has found him guilty of premeditated murder, as the prosecutor maintains, or if it accepts that on August 2, 2023, Arrieta accidentally lost his life during an argument between the two on the island of Koh Pha-ngan, as the defendant claims. Whether Sancho, a Spanish national, is sentenced to death ― a punishment that the country’s judicial authorities usually reduce or do not carry out ― or the extension of a possible prison sentence depends on whether the court rules that the events were premeditated. The court is set to issue its ruling at 10:00 a.m. local time (5 a.m. CET). After the sentence, the judge will set a deadline for appeals.

The trial of Sancho, son of the Spanish actor Rodolfo Sancho, has been one of the most publicized legal proceedings of the past year, despite the events having occurred 6,200 miles from Madrid and being investigated and tried under Thai law. The defendant, 29, and Arrieta, 44, had agreed to meet on August 2, 2023 on Koh Pha-ngan, a popular tourist island known for hosting the full moon party. The Spaniard arrived a couple of days before the meeting and planned to stay in the area for a few weeks. On August 3, he reported that his friend had disappeared and Sancho was formally arrested two days later.

Sancho’s defense team and the co-accusation team, representing the Arrieta family, are already preparing for the court date, although not many details about the procedure for announcing the sentence have been revealed. Sancho’s parents, Rodolfo Sancho and Silvia Bronchalo, have been summoned to court at 9 a.m. Thursday, along with their legal representatives in the country. When the scheduled time arrives, 10 a.m., other provisions will be communicated, such as whether access to the courtroom will be allowed to any members of the team of Spanish lawyers advising the defense, or the press. Daniel Sancho told the Efe news agency in an interview that he is “prepared for the best and for the worst” and was optimistic the judge will rule out Arrieta’s death being a case of premeditated murder.

The trial, held behind closed doors at the Provincial Court of Koh Samui between April 9 and May 2, was followed by a large delegation of journalists from Spain, mostly from television stations. During the sessions, the prosecution tried to prove through dozens of witnesses and evidence submissions ― including the purchase of knives and a saw that the accused kept in the hotel room where Arrieta died ― that Sancho planned the murder and dismemberment of the surgeon in the days prior to his death. The Thai penal code punishes murder with sentences of between 15 and 20 years in prison, life imprisonment, or the death penalty. Specifically, section 289 of the penal code cites premeditated murder as one of the aggravating circumstances for capital punishment. During the trial the prosecution also acknowledged the difficulty of proving premeditation, which would prevent the death penalty from being applied.

Sancho, who initially confessed to the crime, said during the trial that Arrieta’s death occurred in self-defense after the Colombian surgeon tried to “rape” him and “threatened him and his family.” At the end of the trial, the Spaniard expressed regret for what happened. “I am sorry that a life has been lost and that parents have lost a son,” Sancho told the court during closing arguments. “I am sorry that his family was not able to bury him properly. I’m sorry for what I did after the death.” The Spaniard only admits to one of the three crimes of which he is accused, that of hiding Arrieta’s body, which carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison. He has pleaded not guilty to premeditated murder and destroying the victim’s passport, which is punishable with up to six years in prison.

Possible appeals

Sancho has been held in pretrial detention in the district jail on Koh Samui, an island located about 40 minutes by ferry from the neighboring island of Koh Pha-ngan, where the events took place. If the sentence imposed on him exceeds 15 years in prison, he will be transferred to another center. The prosecutor in the case, Jeerawat Sawatdichai, has explained that if he is sentenced to more than 15 years, he would be transferred to the provincial prison of Surat Thani on the mainland, although it would not be immediate. Should Sancho be sentenced to over 25 years, he will be transferred to the prison of Nakhon Si Thammarat, a province located south of Samui. According to the country’s national correctional facilities report, Surat Thani holds about 5,400 inmates and Nakhon Si Thammarat prison has more than 4,200, compared with 542 in the Samui jail, which is considered “friendly” by the country’s standards because of its low density and lax security.

Once the verdict is handed down there are two possible routes of appeal for the parties, one to the Court of Appeals and another to the Supreme Court, a process that usually takes a year, according to legal sources.

In a previous case, Spaniard Artur Segarra was sentenced to death in 2017 by a Bangkok court for the premeditated murder of his compatriot David Bernat, and was transferred days after the ruling from the Bangkok remand prison to the capital’s maximum-security Bang Kwang Central Prison, where he remains and where most inmates sentenced to capital punishment are held. Segarra’s sentence was reduced to life imprisonment in 2020 by King Maha Vajiralongkorn, who has the power to grant pardons and commute the death penalty to a lesser punishment.

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