Bad news for Daniel Sancho. This Friday, the Provincial Court of Samui (southern Thailand) announced that the appeals were dismissed and the first instance ruling that sentenced the Spanish chef to life imprisonment, accused of the premeditated murder of Colombian Edwin Arrieta, was upheld, according to a statement from the judicial authorities.
"The Court of Appeal of Region 8 confirms the ruling of the court of first instance," indicates the text, which adds that "the defendant's conviction for premeditated murder is maintained, as well as for crimes related to the concealment and dismemberment of the body and the destruction of the victim's passport."
"We are wrong, an effort had been made and very simple things were requested, such as the recording of that first statement that Daniel made. They had the obligation to record them and the Court ignores that and does not answer us," said this weekend at Fiesta Carmen Balfagón, the chef's lawyer, about how they have received the decision of the Thai judge.
In his speech, on the same set, he assured that the next step will be to go to the Supreme Court of Thailand and the UN. What the lawyer did not expect was the news that she would end up receiving from journalist Juan Luis Galiacho and that affected her completely: "I am sorry to inform you that the same thing is not going to continue in the case, Daniel is also changing the legal team. He is very disappointed and devastated. He had been sold something that has not been fulfilled."
"Until this moment he was on the side of his father, of the team that Rodolfo maintained, because they had sold him that at most it was going to be reckless homicide," he added. "Right now he is considering the situation that he wants to change because he wants to continue fighting. He believes that they have sold him a lot of birds and he has been totally isolated," he concluded.
This information caught Carmen Bafalgón by surprise, who immediately denied that it was true. "That, today, is not true, and if it is true I will come and tell you you were right."
Friday's view
The hearing began at 10 a.m. local time (3:00 GMT) and ended around two hours later, and Thai lawyers and representatives from both parties were present: Aphichat Srinuel and Alice Keartjareanlap for Sancho, and Metapon Suwancharen and Nattha Jongratwanin - "Lak" - on behalf of the victim's family.
Daniel Sancho connected by videoconference from Surat Thani prison (province to which Samui belongs), where he is currently serving his sentence.
Arrieta's family and Sancho's defense presented their appeals in December 2024 and March 2025, respectively: the Colombian side requested that the punishment be raised to capital punishment due to the "conclusiveness" of the evidence and to increase the compensation, set at 4.42 million bats (about 117,000 euros) in the first instance ruling.
For its part, Sancho's defense requested in his appeal that a new hearing be held or that the trial be repeated to call new witnesses, since he maintains that Arrieta's death was due to an accident during a fight.
"The final sentence continues to be life imprisonment," notes the judicial statement, which highlights that the death penalty (the one Thailand reserves for cases of premeditated murder) had already been reduced in the first instance ruling "because it was considered that the defendant's statement was useful for the procedure."
The outcome of the appeals also maintains the compensation of 4.42 million baht in favor of the victim's parents.
The document also highlights "the purchase of knives, a saw, a machete or butcher knife, garbage bags, rubber gloves and cleaning products" that he had stored in a hotel room before the day of the events. "Therefore, the court concluded that this was a premeditated murder."
The sentence is, in this way, "fully confirmed," adds the statement, which rules out that there was a "need for new evidence requested by the defendant."
The hearing took place just over two years after that same court handed down a sentence against Sancho and sentenced him to life imprisonment for the premeditated murder and dismemberment of Arrieta a year earlier, on August 2, 2023, on the neighboring island of Phangan, where they had met that same day.
The first instance ruling considered that Sancho planned the crime and that he "hit" with "the intention of killing" Arrieta, whose remains were found dismembered on the tourist island of Phangan.
Although premeditated murder carries the death penalty in Thailand (which the country barely applies), the defendant's initial confession served as a mitigating factor to reduce the sentence, even though Sancho later said it was an accident.
Trained as a chef and the son and grandson of famous Spanish actors (Rodolfo Sancho and Sancho Gracia), which contributed to a large media following of the case, Sancho, now 32 years old, met Arrieta in 2022 through the social network Instagram and they had seen each other several times in Spain before meeting in Phangan.
Originally from the Colombian town of Lorica, in the department of Córdoba (north), Arrieta was a 44-year-old plastic surgeon who, according to his surroundings, liked to travel and gastronomy.
