Spanish actor Rodolfo Sancho, father of Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, speaks to reporters arriving at the provincial court of Koh Samui in southern Thailand, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. | Photo credit: AP
A Thai court sentenced the son of a famous Spanish actor to life imprisonment on Thursday (29 August 2024) for the brutal murder of a Colombian plastic surgeon on a tropical holiday island. The case is currently shaking up the whole of Spain.
Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, a 30-year-old chef, was found guilty last year of the premeditated murder of Edwin Arrieta Arteaga on the tourist island of Koh Phangan.
The case has attracted enormous interest in Spain because the defendant’s father, Rodolfo Sancho, is a well-known actor and numerous Spanish reporters have flown in for the trial.
Bussakorn Kaewleeled, a lawyer for the victim’s family, said they were satisfied with the outcome.
“The plaintiff is satisfied with the verdict as he will be sentenced to life in prison and will receive financial compensation,” Bussakorn told reporters outside the court on the island of Koh Samui.
“The verdict has been announced and both sides have the right to appeal under Thai law,” Bussakorn added.
Asked about Mr Sancho’s reaction, she said: “He is sad, but we cannot forget the loss of the dead.”
Sancho claimed he killed 44-year-old Arrieta in self-defense and admitted hiding the body, but denied destroying the Colombian’s passport.
During the trial, it was revealed that Sancho dismembered Arrieta’s body, packed the body parts in plastic bags and distributed them on Koh Phangan.
Although Thailand still has the death penalty for some crimes, including premeditated murder, executions are rare—the last one took place in 2018.
Before the verdict was announced, Arrieta’s family said they were in favor of a life sentence.
“Leave him in Thailand so he can take time – all the time God gives him to live – to reflect on his actions,” said Darling Arrieta, the victim’s sister, in an HBO documentary about the case.
“He didn’t just dismember my brother, he dismembered an entire family.”
Right to self-defense
Sancho and Arrieta agreed to meet in person after meeting online.
Sancho’s father said in the same HBO documentary that Arrieta threatened his son and then “there was a fight, and in that fight there was an accident.”
The defense argued that Sancho acted in legitimate self-defense after Arrieta tried to force him to have sex.
“He tried to rape me and we fought,” Sancho said in a statement quoted by Spanish daily El Mundo.
The victim’s family lawyer, Juan Gonzalo Ospina, said in a recent interview with El Mundo that Sancho lives in a “false reality.”
Ospina said the trial in April proved that Sancho had bought knives, plastic bags and cleaning products before the crime and kept them in the room where the murder took place.
