Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, son of the Spanish actor, convicted of murdering and dismembering a Colombian plastic surgeon.
A Thai courtroom has sentenced a Spanish chef to life in jail for murdering and dismembering a Colombian man on the vacationer island of Koh Phangan.
On Thursday, the Koh Samui Provincial Court docket stated in an announcement that Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, a 30-year-old chef with a YouTube channel, was discovered responsible of murdering Colombian plastic surgeon Edwin Arrieta Arteaga by slicing up and hiding his physique.
The homicide occurred in August 2023, whereas Sancho and Arrieta have been on vacation in Koh Phangan. The pair had organized to satisfy on-line. The trial heard that Sancho lower up the physique of 44-year-old Arrieta into items and put the components in plastic baggage earlier than distributing them across the island.
Sancho, who comes from a well-known household of Spanish actors, denied premeditated homicide however admitted dismembering the sufferer’s physique and disposing of the components on land and within the sea.
The protection argued that Sancho acted in self-defense after Arrieta tried to drive him to have intercourse, the latter fell and hit his head towards a bath, dropping consciousness and later dying.
The case got here to gentle when rubbish collectors discovered what the Bangkok Publish newspaper described as a pelvis and severed intestines weighing about 5kg (11lb) in a sack of fertilizer.
Shortly afterward, Sancho reported Arrieta’s disappearance to the police. Thai police gathered proof linking the 2 males and arrested and questioned the chef.
Police obtained surveillance video displaying Sancho allegedly buying a knife, rubber gloves, trash baggage and cleansing options at a comfort retailer earlier than Arrieta’s loss of life, which prosecutors stated strengthened the premeditated homicide cost.
well-known household
The case has generated monumental curiosity in Spain as a result of the daddy of the accused, Rodolfo Sancho, is a well known actor and dozens of Spanish journalists had flown in for the trial.
The courtroom initially sentenced Sancho to loss of life however commuted the sentence to life in jail due to his account of occasions throughout interrogation, and ordered him to pay 4.4 million baht (about $130,000) to Arrieta’s household.
Bussakorn Kaewleeled, a lawyer for the sufferer’s household, stated they have been “glad with the sentence as a result of he can be sentenced to life in jail and can obtain monetary compensation.”
Carmen Balfagon, a lawyer representing the Sancho household, stated: “We didn’t anticipate this.” [the life sentence]However we should settle for what the Thai courtroom has stated, now we have to respect it.”
In his last assertion, Sancho informed the courtroom he regretted his actions. “I remorse {that a} life has been misplaced and that oldsters have misplaced a baby,” Sancho stated, in keeping with Spanish newspaper El PaĂs.
Underneath sure circumstances, Sancho can apply to be repatriated to serve the rest of his jail sentence in his house nation after a number of years in jail in Thailand, in keeping with a treaty between Thailand and Spain.
