A Thai court has a famous Son of Spanish actor for life on thursday for the gruesome murder of a Colombian plastic surgeon on a tropical holiday island in a case that has Spain in its grip.
Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, a 30-year-old chef with a YouTube channel, was found guilty of the premeditated murder of Edwin Arrieta Arteaga on the tourist island of Koh Phangan in August last year.
The case has attracted a lot of attention in Spain because the suspect’s father, Rodolfo Sancho, is a well-known actor and dozens of Spanish reporters have flown in to cover the trial.
Sancho’s mother, Silvia Bronchalo, is also an actress and both parents were present at the sentencing, The Associated Press reported. They are both 49 years old.
Bussakorn Kaewleeled, a lawyer for the victim’s family, said relatives were satisfied with the outcome.
“The plaintiff is satisfied with the sentence because he gets life in prison and he gets financial compensation,” Bussakorn told reporters outside the court on the island of Koh Samui.
“The verdict has been pronounced, both parties have the right to appeal under Thai law,” Bussakorn added.
When asked about Sancho’s reaction, she replied: “He is sad, but we must not forget the loss of the deceased.”
The court initially sentenced Sancho to death but commuted it to life in prison for his cooperation during the trial, AP reported, citing Police Colonel Paisan Sangthep, deputy commander of Surat Thani provincial police, who attended the hearing.
Gruesome details about Arrieta’s death
Sancho claimed he killed Arrieta, 44, in self-defense and admitted hiding the body, but denied destroying the Colombian’s passport.
During the trial it was stated that Sancho chopped up Arrieta’s body and put the body parts in plastic bags before scattering them across Koh Phangan.
Sancho led police to seven locations where he allegedly dumped the victim’s dismembered body in plastic bags, CBS News affiliate BBC News reported.
Although Thailand still has the death penalty for certain crimes, including premeditated murder, executions are rare. The last execution took place in 2018.
Arrieta’s family said before the verdict that they supported a life sentence.
“Leave him in Thailand so he can take the time, all the time God gives him to live, to think about what he did,” Darling Arrieta, the victim’s sister, said in an HBO documentary about the case.
“He didn’t just chop my brother into pieces, he chopped a whole family into pieces.”
Disputed versions of events
Sancho and Arrieta decided to meet in real life after meeting online.
Sancho’s father said in the same HBO documentary that Arrieta threatened his son and then “a fight occurred, and during that fight an accident happened.”
The defense argued that Sancho acted in legitimate self-defense after Arrieta forced him to have sex.
“He tried to rape me and we had an argument,” Sancho said in a statement quoted by Spanish daily El Mundo.
Sancho testified that during the fight, Arrieta fell and hit his head on a bathtub, losing consciousness and dying, AP reported.
Another lawyer for the victim’s family, Juan Gonzalo Ospina, said in a recent interview with El Mundo that Sancho was living in a “false reality.”
Ospina said that during the trial in April it was proven that Sancho had bought knives, plastic bags and cleaning products before the crime and kept them in the room where the murder took place.
According to IMDB, Rodolfo Sancho has dozens of film and television roles to his credit and played the lead role in “El Ministerio del Tiempo” (“The Ministry of Time”).
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