By Natalia Rueda 
On Monday, the Provincial Court of Koh Samui remanded 29 year-old Daniel Sancho in custody after he confessed to killing and dismembering 44 year-old Colombian surgeon, Edwin Arrieta. Sancho, the son of actor Rodolfo Sancho, had arranged to meet Arrieta on the island of Koh Panghan to attend a Full Moon party before the crime occurred.
DNA traces collected from the garbage bags that Sancho had thrown away with parts of Arrieta’s body led to the judge charging him with premeditated murder, concealment and removal of body parts to cover up the death of the victim. Sancho is currently in provisional detention awaiting the start of the judicial process.
The Spanish Embassy confirmed this weekend that it is providing consular assistance to Sancho and he has already been provided with a legal representative. As a result, the great unknown now is what sentence awaits him, whether he will be tried in Thailand or could be extradited to Spain.
The punishment for homicide in Thailand, according to Article 288 of its penal code, is a prison term of between 15 and 20 years, although the death penalty can also be applied in the most extreme cases. In fact, Artur Segarra, a Spaniard, was sentenced to death in 2017 after murdering and dismembering a man in Thailand.
Spain and Thailand do not have an extradition treaty, so Sancho would have to be tried by Thai courts. However, there is a possibility that he could be transferred to Spain and serve his sentence in his home country under Spanish law.
For now, Sancho is in a prison on the island of Koh Samui, but he will most likely be transferred to a center in Bangkok to facilitate contact with the authorities of the Spanish consulate, as well as with his legal representative. Both Sancho and his family await the results of the judicial process with bated breath.