Daniel Sancho Bronchallo, the son of a Spanish actor, has been convicted of murdering a Colombian plastic surgeon and dismembering his body.
A Thai court has sentenced a Spanish chef to life in prison for killing and dismembering a Colombian man on the tourist island of Koh Phangan.
Daniel Sancho Bronchallo, a 30-year-old chef with a YouTube channel, was found guilty of murdering Colombian plastic surgeon Edwin Arrieta Arteaga and dismembering and concealing his body, the Koh Samui Provincial Court said in a statement on Thursday.
The murder happened in August 2023 while Sancho and Arrieta were holidaying on Koh Phangan after agreeing to meet online. The trial was told Sancho chopped up the body of 44-year-old Arrieta and scattered the parts around the island in plastic bags.
Sancho, from a well-known Spanish acting family, denied premeditating the murders but admitted to dismembering his victims’ bodies and disposing of the parts on land and at sea.
The defense argued that Sancho acted in self-defense because Arrieta forced Sancho to perform sex acts on her, causing Arrieta to fall, hit his head on the bathtub, lose consciousness and die.
The incident was discovered by garbage collectors who found what the Bangkok Post described as a severed pelvis and intestines weighing about five kilograms inside a bag of fertiliser.
Shortly after, Sancho reported Arrieta missing to police, after which Thai police gathered evidence linking the two men and detained the chef for questioning.
Police obtained surveillance footage that allegedly showed Sancho buying a knife, rubber gloves, garbage bags and detergent at a convenience store before Arrieta’s death, which prosecutors argued strengthened their case for premeditated murder.
Famous families
The case attracted huge interest in Spain because the defendant’s father, Rodolfo Sancho, is a well-known actor and dozens of Spanish journalists were flown in to attend the trial.
The court initially sentenced Sancho to death but commuted the sentence to life imprisonment based on his version of events during cross-examination and ordered him to pay 4.4 million baht (about $130,000) to Arrieta’s family.
Busakorn Kaewrired, a lawyer for the victim’s family, said: “We are satisfied with the verdict as the defendant will be imprisoned for life and the family will receive financial compensation.”
“We didn’t expect it,” said Carmen Balfagon, a lawyer representing the Sancho family. [the life sentence]But we have to accept and respect what the Thai judiciary has said.”
In his final statement, Sancho said he regretted his actions. “I regret that a life was lost and that parents have lost a son,” Spanish newspaper El Pais quoted him as saying.
According to a treaty between Thailand and Spain, after Sancho has served several years of his sentence in Thailand, he can apply to be deported to his home country to serve the remainder of his sentence, under certain conditions.