Thai courts have sentenced Spaniard Daniel Sancho to life imprisonment for the murder of Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta, whose remains were found at the beginning of August last year on the island of Pangan, where they had both spent a few days on holiday, according to the Efe news agency. During the trial, the prosecutor accused Sancho of premeditated murder and asked for a death sentence, which ultimately did not occur. The Thai penal code punishes murder with sentences of between 15 and 20 years in prison, life imprisonment or the death penalty. Premeditation is one of the aggravating circumstances that the Thai penal code provides in section 289 for applying the death penalty. The convicted man admitted the crime after his arrest, but later maintained that Arrieta had accidentally lost his life during a fight in which he was defending himself from an alleged attempt at sexual assault. The court has set compensation of 106,000 euros for the victim’s family, who were financially dependent on the deceased.
The verdict was handed down on Thursday amid great media expectation during a very restricted court hearing held on the Thai island of Samui. The judge, who has been in charge of the case from the beginning and whose identity has not been revealed, has summoned the parties to the reading at 10:00 in the morning, five in the morning Spanish peninsular time. The reading of the ruling included interpretation from Thai to Spanish, which has lengthened the session. Initially it was estimated that it would last about three hours and that the verdict would not be known until the end.
Actor Rodolfo Sancho, father of Daniel Sancho, arrived at the court at around 9.15, some 45 minutes before the session began in the court in southern Thailand, accompanied by Alice Keartjareanlap, his trusted legal advisor in the Asian country. “We remain positive,” said Keartjareanlap. Sancho’s legal aid lawyer, Aprichat Srinual, was one of the first to arrive at the court. The defendant’s mother, investment analyst Silvia Brochalo, also attended the hearing. The deceased’s parents, Leovaldo José Arrieta and Ana Marcela Arteaga, who acted as co-accusers in the case, did not travel to Thailand, so they will learn of the court’s decision from Colombia. Their legal representatives in Spain, the Ospina Abogados law firm, will hold a press conference in Madrid on Thursday at 12.00.
[Noticia de última hora. Habrá actualización en breve.]
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