Spanish actor's son charged with killing and beheading surgeon in Thailand

Daniel Sancho Bronchalo is accused of killing Edwin Arrieta Arteaga on the island of Koh Pha Ngan last year.

Bangkok:

A Thai court will sentence the son of a famous Spanish actor on Thursday on charges of murdering and dismembering a Colombian plastic surgeon he met online.

The case against Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, a 30-year-old chef and son of actor Rodolfo Sancho, has aroused enormous interest in his home country, with numerous Spanish reporters flying in for the trial.

He is accused of murdering and dismembering Edwin Arrieta Arteaga last year on the tourist island of Koh Pha Ngan.

His trial for premeditated murder, hiding a body and destroying documents took place in April on the nearby island of Koh Samui, another tourist hotspot known for its turquoise waters and rave parties.

Sancho denies premeditated murder but remains in custody after admitting he killed 44-year-old Arrieta in what he said was self-defense.

He also admitted to hiding the body, but denied destroying the Colombian's passport.

The two had arranged to meet after getting to know each other online.

During the trial, it was said that Sancho packed parts of Arrieta's body in plastic bags and distributed them on Koh Pha Ngan.

Although his crimes are punishable by death, Arrieta's family has said they would prefer 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.”

“An accident”

Sancho's father said in the same documentary that Arrieta threatened his son, after which “a fight broke out, and in that fight an accident occurred.”

The defense insists that Sancho acted in 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.

According to the newspaper, Sancho said he did not immediately inform the police about Arrieta's death because he was in shock and because it was all “an accident.”

But the victim's family lawyer, Juan Gonzalo Ospina, said in a recent interview with El Mundo that Sancho was living in a “false reality.”

“He continues to deny responsibility for his actions,” he said.

Thai police, he added, had done a “commendable job” in reconstructing the crime and searching for evidence.

“When Sancho reported the disappearance of Edwin Arrieta in search of an alibi, they already knew he was the culprit,” he said.

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.

“That is undeniable,” he added.

He said Sancho admitted in court that Arrieta suffered convulsions after hitting him.

“In his statement he admitted that he then finished him off. That is, he murdered him,” he added.

However, a lawyer for Sancho's family, Carmen Balfagon, told Spanish news program Cronica that they were “very optimistic” because “we proved during the trial that there was no intent.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)