Daniel Sancho sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Edwin Arrieta

29 (EUROPA PRESS)

The Thai courts on Thursday sentenced Daniel Sancho to life imprisonment after proving that he premeditatedly murdered Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta in early August last year on the island of Koh Phangan in southeastern Thailand, according to the convicted man’s lawyers, Marcos García Montes and Carmen Balfagón, after learning the verdict.

The verdict was read out at the Samui Provincial Court, where access was restricted even to lawyers. In addition to the crime of premeditated murder, Sancho has been in provisional prison since last year for the crimes of concealing a corpse and destroying other people’s documents.

After learning of the sentence, Sancho’s lawyers have announced that they will appeal it. “We are going to appeal the sentence. We did not expect it but we have to accept what the courts have said. We have always respected it,” Balfagón said in statements to the media. It is also expected that Sancho will be transferred from Samui prison to a higher security prison.

Sancho has also been ordered to pay compensation of around 106,000 euros to the family of the Colombian surgeon.

The prosecution has maintained that Sancho, son of actor Rodolfo Sancho and investment analyst Silvia Bronchalo, planned the murder, although the defense has argued that Arrieta’s death was due to an accident during a fight in which the accused defended himself from an attempted sexual assault.