Daniel Sancho, the son of a famous actor, was sentenced to life in prison for killing and cutting up his lover, a Colombian surgeon, in 2023.
It was named the “full moon skinner”. In a criminal case that has kept three countries, Thailand, Spain and Colombia, in suspense, the Spanish chef Daniel Sancho, accused of having killed and dismembered his Colombian companion Edwin Arrieta in August 2023 during a vacation in Thailand, was sentenced this Thursday, August 29 to life imprisonment. He thus saves his head, since the death penalty is still in force in the kingdom of Rama X. Even if in the last twenty years, the death penalty (by lethal injection) has only been applied in the country three times: two executions in 2009 and one in 2018.
Daniel Sancho, 30, was found guilty of all three charges against him: premeditated murder, dismembering and concealing the body and destroying the victim’s passport. At trial in April-May, the defendant pleaded guilty to a single crime: cutting up and concealing the body. According to his version, the 44-year-old doctor had tried to sexually assault him and died after an accidental fall in the bathroom of their bungalow. The cook had simply dismembered the body and made it disappear. In court, he described a toxic and controlling relationship with his lover, who had already treated him to stays in luxury resorts.
The island of “full moon parties”
The notoriety of the victim and that of her murderer increased the media coverage of the news story tenfold. Edwin Arrieta was a renowned plastic surgeon, who practiced in Colombia but also in Chile. Daniel Sancho comes from a dynasty of actors who are very popular thanks to television: his father Rodolfo Sancho appeared in many series, and his grandfather Sancho Gracia, who died in 2012, remains in the collective memory of the Spanish thanks to his interpretation of the bandit of honor Curro Jiménez.
The crime scene also played a role: the island of Ko Pha Ngan in southeastern Thailand is described as a small paradise still preserved from the mass tourism that has invaded other destinations in the country. «full moon parties»parties held on the beaches every full moon, have made the island famous and attract many visitors. The trial was held in April and May on the neighboring island of Koh Samui.
“The verdict has been given, both parties have the right to appeal in accordance with the rule of law”the victim’s family’s lawyer, Bussakorn Kaewleeled, told dozens of Spanish reporters gathered at the Koh Samui courthouse. The convicted man will have to pay 4 million baht (107,000 euros) in compensation to the surgeon’s family, who had been demanding 16 million baht and can also appeal for better compensation.
One month to appeal
His father, who was present at the scene, said he would continue the legal battle, either by appealing the verdict to obtain a new trial in Koh Samui, or by appealing to the Supreme Court in Bangkok. In either case, the decision would not be made for a year. Once they receive a copy of the judgment, in the coming days, the lawyers have a month to contest it.
In February, another foreigner, a 42-year-old Austrian DJ who had been living on the island of Ko Pha Ngan for several years, was beaten to death with an iron bar. The suspect arrested was, again, a foreigner: a Moroccan citizen.
