Thai Court Sentences Spanish Actor’s Son to Life in Prison for Murder

A court in Thailand on Thursday found Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, a member of a well-known Spanish acting family, guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced him to life in prison. The case involved the dismemberment of the victim.

The Koh Samui Provincial Court initially sentenced Sancho to death but reduced it to life imprisonment due to his cooperation during the trial, said Police Col. Paisan Sangthep, deputy commander of the Surat Thani Provincial Police, who was present at the hearing.

Sancho, a 30-year-old chef with a YouTube channel, was accused of killing Edwin Arrieta Arteaga, a 44-year-old plastic surgeon from Colombia, while both were vacationing on the Thai island of Koh Pha-ngan in August of last year.

The island is known for its monthly “Full Moon” beach parties, drawing travelers from around the world for all-night events.

The convicted man is the son of Rodolfo Sancho Aguirre, a prominent Spanish actor, and Silvia Bronchalo, also an actress. Both parents are 49 years old and attended Thursday’s court session.

The court also ordered Sancho to pay over 4.2 million baht ($125,000) in compensation to the victim’s family. Lawyers representing the family at the trial had requested 30 million baht ($882,000), Spain’s EFE news agency reported.

EFE also cited Sancho’s father Rodolfo as telling media after the verdict that he intended “to always keep fighting, to keep fighting.”

During his trial on the island of Samui, Daniel Sancho claimed he had gotten into a fight with Arrieta, alleging that Arrieta tried to sexually assault him. He stated that Arrieta fell during the scuffle and hit his head on a bathtub, losing consciousness and subsequently dying.

He had pleaded not guilty to charges of premeditated murder.

Sancho acknowledged dismembering the victim’s body and disposing of the parts on land and at sea. For the charge of concealing or damaging a body, he received a four-month prison sentence, reduced to two months for acknowledging the act, said Paisan.

He also pleaded not guilty to the charge of destroying another person’s documents — the victim’s passport — for which he received a two-year prison term.

The elements of the case — violent death on a holiday island, the celebrity connections and the sensational details — garnered significant coverage in Spanish media. HBO produced a Spanish-language documentary on the events.

The case came to light when trash collectors found what the Bangkok Post newspaper described as a sawed-off pelvis and intestines weighing about 5 kilograms (11 pounds) in a fertilizer sack at a garbage dump.

Shortly after that, Sancho reported to police that Arrieta was missing, and police then gathered evidence linking the two men, leading them to detain and question him.

Police presented a narrative, claiming to the press that Sancho had confessed to the murder and saying he had planned it because Arrieta threatened to disgrace him and his family by revealing their alleged sexual relationship.

Sancho, through his father and his lawyers, said that was a distorted version of what he told police, and denied having a sexual relationship with Arrieta.

Police obtained surveillance video showing Sancho allegedly purchasing a knife, rubber gloves, garbage bags and cleaning solutions at a convenience store before Arrieta’s death, which prosecutors claimed supported the charge of premeditated murder.

In his closing statement earlier in his trial, Sancho told the court he regretted his actions, the Spanish newspaper El País reported.

“I am sorry that a life has been lost and that parents have lost a son,” Sancho said. “I am sorry that his family was not able to bury him properly. I’m sorry for what I did after the death.”

Under certain conditions, Sancho can apply to be repatriated to serve the remainder of his prison term back home after several years of incarceration in Thailand, according to a treaty between Thailand and Spain.

The handful of Spanish nationals in Thai prisons includes another man convicted of premeditated murder and dismembering his victim.

Artur Segarra Princep was convicted of the 2016 killing of fellow Spaniard David Bernat. Police suspected that Segarra robbed the victim, whom he was said to have known. The body was kept in a freezer in Segarra’s Bangkok apartment until parts were tossed into Thailand’s Chao Phraya River.

His 2017 death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 2020 by Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn.