Thai court to announce verdict in murder appeal of Colombian Edwin Arrieta on Friday
The Samui Provincial Court will announce the ruling on Friday on the appeal against the life sentence imposed on Spanish national Daniel Sancho.
Thai court announces verdict in Sancho-Arrieta case appeal
The Samui Provincial Court in southern Thailand will announce on Friday 25 September the ruling on the appeal against the life sentence imposed on Spanish national Daniel Sancho for the premeditated murder of Colombian plastic surgeon Edwin Arrieta, according to elheraldo.co.
The reading of the verdict on 25 September will take place "only for the defence", according to court sources cited by the EFE news agency. A second hearing was scheduled for 7 October which would also include Arrieta's family, although a source close to the case indicated that this hearing could be cancelled, pending official confirmation.
The hearing will be held in closed session, with access restricted to lawyers and family members. Sancho, 32, will participate via video call from Surat Thani prison, where he is serving his sentence.
Two appeals with opposing requests
Sancho's defence requested in its appeal, submitted in March 2025, that the trial be repeated or a new hearing be held with additional witnesses, arguing that Arrieta's death occurred during a fight and was not premeditated. The Colombian's family, for its part, had submitted its own appeal in December 2024, calling for the sentence to be upgraded to the death penalty because of the "conclusiveness" of the evidence, as well as compensation exceeding the 4.42 million baht—approximately €117,000 or $133,500—set in the first-instance sentence.
The Samui Provincial Court received this month the ruling previously drawn up by the Phuket Court of Appeal. Although a single ruling is expected to address both appeals, the courts have not confirmed this.
The facts and the 2024 conviction
The Samui Provincial Court convicted Sancho on 29 August 2024 after finding him guilty of premeditated murder and the dismemberment of Arrieta on the Thai island of Phangan, which occurred on 2 August 2023. Although premeditated murder carries the death penalty in Thailand, the defendant's initial confession acted as a mitigating factor and the sentence was reduced to life imprisonment. Sancho subsequently claimed that the death was an accident.
Sancho, son and grandson of Spanish actors Rodolfo Sancho and Sancho Gracia, and Arrieta, a Colombian plastic surgeon aged 44 at the time of the events, met in 2022 through Instagram and had met on several occasions in Spain before meeting in Phangan on the day of the crime.
Possibility of transfer to Spain
Both parties have access to up to two levels of appeal—this first one and a potential appeal to the Thai Supreme Court—before a final judgment is issued. Once issued, the defence could initiate steps to request Sancho's transfer to Spain under a bilateral agreement.
Source: Google News CO — Crime