Daniel Sancho was sentenced Thursday to life imprisonment after being found guilty by a Thai judge of the premeditated murder of Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta on August 2, 2023 on the island of Koh Phangan. He has also been found guilty of the two other crimes he was charged with, dismemberment of the corpse and the theft of the victim’s passport.
Daniel Sancho trial: lawyers of the Arrieta family ask Sancho for a compensation of 760,000 euros
The judge of the Koh Samui Island Provincial Court began reading the verdict at 10:55 a.m. local time, an hour after the session began, in which he indicated that the sentence has been reduced from death penalty to life imprisonment thanks to the cooperation of the defendant.
Sancho, who was present in the courtroom, was also ordered to pay compensation to Arrieta’s family of 4 million baht, an amount significantly lower than the 30 million baht requested by the prosecution.
The sentence fell like a bucket of cold water on Daniel himself, who, according to eyewitnesses, cried when he heard the ruling. His parents, the actor Rodolfo Sancho and the investment analyst Silvia Bronchalo, who accompanied him at the hearing, also received the sentence with great pain.
His mother was the first to leave the court, crestfallen and without making any statements to the media before getting into a car. Rodolfo Sancho was slow to leave the court and when he did he advocated to continue “fighting” judicially to try to lower the sentence. “To always keep fighting, to keep fighting,” the actor briefly declared to the media gathered outside the courthouse.
𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗜𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗗 🇹🇭: 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗧𝘂𝗯𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗳 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿
A Thai court sentenced Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, son of Spanish actors, to life in prison for the murder and dismemberment of Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta Arteaga.
The original death… pic.twitter.com/k6L44UeGeN
— The Global Beacon (@globalbeaconn) August 29, 2024
For his part, the prosecutor in the case, Jeerawat Sawatdichai, said at the exit of the court that he is “satisfied” because Sancho has been convicted on the three charges he filed during the trial, held last April in the same court.
The Arrieta family also expressed their satisfaction with the conviction. “Thanks to God, we are finally going to be able to rest and honor Edwin’s memory as it deserves. Today is a day of gratitude for the family because we can close this painful stage of our lives,” said the surgeon’s sister, Darling Arrieta, who could not hold back her tears upon learning of the sentence.
Juango Ospina, the Arrieta’s Spanish lawyer, emphasized that “the thesis of the private prosecution and the Public Prosecutor’s Office have prevailed” and considered the life sentence “a serious enough penalty for Daniel Sancho to reflect on what he has done and to ask for forgiveness, something the family is still waiting for”.
He also stressed that Sancho “has been sentenced to death penalty, although it has been changed to life imprisonment because at the beginning of the investigation he collaborated with the Thai police”, according to Spanish news media.
During the reading of the verdict, when the lawyers and the defendant had to remain standing, the judge explained the possibility of filing two appeals, one before the Court of Appeals and a later one before the Supreme Court of Thailand.
Sancho’s Spanish lawyer, Carmen Balfagón, has already advanced that they will appeal the sentence. “We are going to appeal,” she said.
Daniel Sancho could serve part of his life sentence in Spain, under an extradition agreement signed with Thailand in 1983. However, in order to apply for the transfer, he will have to wait for the sentence to become final after the appeals expected before the Thai Court of Appeal and the Thai Supreme Court.
Spanish suspect admits to killing, dismembering his Colombian friend
In any case, Sancho will have to serve a minimum of 8 years in prison in Thailand before requesting his extradition and paying the Arrieta family the compensation imposed by the judge.
-Thailand News (TN)
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