A court on the neighboring island of Koh Samui ruled that Sancho premeditated the killing of Arrieta in August 2023, the victim’s family lawyer Buszakorn Gavlield told reporters.
The accused, a 30-year-old chef with a heavy social media presence, is the son of Spanish actor Rodolfo Sancho, known for appearing in hit TV series in the country, and grandson of actor Félix Angel Sancho Gracia.
During the trial, Sancho said he got into the fight after he allegedly tried to rape Arrieta. The accuser says Arrieta fell and hit her head in the bathtub while they were arguing, lost consciousness and later died. However, Sancho confessed to dismembering the victim’s body and disposing of the parts on land and sea.
According to the police, the Koh Samui Provincial Court initially sentenced Sancho to death, but it was later commuted to life imprisonment because of his cooperation during the trial and because Arrieta’s family opposed such a sentence.
“The plaintiffs are satisfied with the sentence because they will receive financial compensation and he (Sancho) will spend the rest of his life in prison,” Cavell said.
The Koh Samui Provincial Court confirmed the sentence in a statement. Sancho must pay Arrieta’s family compensation of 4.4 million baht (approximately 130 thousand euros) plus 5% interest per year.
Marcos García-Montes and Carmen Balfacon, the lawyers representing Sancho’s family, announced they would appeal the sentence.
The trial took place in April on the island of Koh Samui, and the court announced the verdict in this case with great press coverage in Spain and Colombia, and we must respect that”, Balfagan said. García-Montes explained, “(Sancho) is not a convict, but a detainee. , said the President (of the Court) because he has a right of appeal.”
Sancho has been in pretrial detention in Thailand for more than a year since he confessed to killing and dismembering Arrieta, 45, on August 2, 2023. The killing took place on Koh Pha Ngan, a tourist island famous for its beaches. Parties.
During the investigation, it was confirmed that the remains of the Colombian surgeon were placed in plastic bags, which Sancho threw in different parts of the island.
The Spaniard will remain in Koh Samui prison while Thailand’s prison department decides where he should serve his sentence, a lawyer for the Arrieta family said.
“Leave him in Thailand, and with all the time God gives him in life, he’ll have time to think about what he did, he didn’t just cut my brother off, he tore a family apart,” declared Darling Arrieta. The victim’s sister in an HBO Max documentary about the case.
In a documentary released on stage at the start of the trial, the defendant’s father, Rodolfo Sancho, said the Colombian doctor had threatened his son, sparking a “fight” in which “an accident occurred.” with his death from Arrieta.
The actor and condemned man’s mother, Silvia Prongelo, was also present during the reading of the sentence. None of them spoke to reporters.
Another lawyer for the Colombian family, Juan Gonzalo Ospina, said during the trial that it was proven that Sancho bought knives, plastic bags and cleaning supplies before the crime and kept them in the crime room.
Sancho’s side also claimed that he acted in self-defense as the victim tried to force him to have sex.
“He tried to rape me and we fought,” Sancho said in his statement, as quoted by Spanish newspaper El Mundo.
According to this information, the shocked youth did not immediately go to the police. In the same newspaper, lawyer Ospina opined that Sancho “lives a false reality”.
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