A Thai appeals court has upheld the life sentence of a Spanish chef, Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, convicted of the 2023 Koh Phangan murder of Colombian plastic surgeon Edwin Arrieta Arteaga.
The Court of Appeals Region 8 rejected appeals from both Sancho and Arrieta’s parents. The ruling was read at Koh Samui Provincial Court in Surat Thani yesterday, September 25.
The judgment was drafted by the Phuket-based appeals court and read at a closed-door session that began at 10am. The Office of the Judiciary confirmed the outcome shortly afterwards.
Sancho, the 32 year old son of Spanish actor Rodolfo Sancho Aguirre, was convicted of killing Arrieta, who was 44, and dismembering his body. He was also convicted of disposing of the remains and destroying the victim’s passport.
The court found that Sancho’s claim that Arrieta died accidentally during a fight contradicted his first statement to police. That statement was given in 2023, before he had time to prepare a different account.
The court said Sancho had bought a knife, saw, cleaver, rubbish bags, rubber gloves and cleaning equipment. He kept them in a hotel room he had booked before Arrieta arrived.
He could have sought medical help or alerted hotel staff after Arrieta was injured. Instead, he stayed in the room for about an hour before dismembering the body, and the court therefore found the killing premeditated.
Sancho had admitted concealing, moving or destroying the body to hide the death or its cause. He denied premeditated murder and destroying the passport.
Arrieta’s parents, who joined the case as co-plaintiffs, had sought the death penalty and higher compensation. The defence asked for a retrial or a new hearing with additional witnesses.
The court ruled that new evidence was unnecessary and found Sancho’s arrest and the investigation lawful. It rejected claims that he was detained without a warrant and that his first court-appointed lawyer acted against his interests.
The Koh Samui Provincial Court convicted Sancho on August 29, 2024. It sentenced him to death but reduced this to life imprisonment after taking his confession into account.
It also ordered him to pay 4.424 million baht (about US$134,000) to Arrieta’s parents, who had sought 30 million baht. The appeals court upheld both the sentence and the compensation order in full.
Arrieta was killed at a hotel on the island on August 2, 2023, and Sancho was formally arrested three days later after confessing.
Sancho’s lawyer, Ramón Chippirrás, confirmed the outcome, and the defence is expected to study the full ruling. The case may still be taken to the Supreme Court.
In related news:
- Australian indicted in Pattaya teen suitcase murder case
- Foreign man suspected in death of Thai woman in Chiang Mai resort
- Taiwanese man held for killing Thai girlfriend, hiding body in freezer
The story Koh Phangan murder appeal fails for Spanish actor’s son as seen on Thaiger News.
