A court in Thailand on Thursday sentenced Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, the son of the Spanish actor Rodolfo Sancho, to life in prison after finding him guilty of murdering a Colombian surgeon and dismembering his body.
The trial, which ended in May on Koh Samui, an island popular among tourists, drew international headlines for involving the scion of a famous Spanish acting family and for the gruesome nature of a killing in a region known for its resorts, parties and beaches.
Prosecutors had accused Mr. Sancho, 30, of murdering Edwin Arrieta Arteaga in August last year. The two men had met up on the Thai island of Koh Phangan during its monthly full-moon celebrations, during which partygoers dance all night on the beach. Mr. Sancho said they had connected on Instagram a year earlier and become romantically involved, the Spanish newspaper El País reported.
During the trial, prosecutors accused Mr. Sancho, a chef who posted cooking videos on YouTube, of purchasing knives and a saw before meeting Mr. Arrieta, a 44-year-old surgeon from northern Colombia. Mr. Sancho then killed Mr. Arrieta, they argued, before dumping some parts of the body in a landfill on the island and others in the sea. After attending a full-moon party the next evening, he reported Mr. Arrieta as missing to police officers.
Mr. Sancho, whose mother, Silvia Bronchalo, is also an actress, pleaded guilty to a charge of concealing the body, according to a statement from the Koh Samui Provincial Court, and he admitted during the trial to dismembering and disposing of Mr. Arrieta’s body.
But he denied that the killing had been premeditated, claiming that Mr. Arrieta had threatened to sexually assault him and had accidentally died during an altercation, according to El País, which reported on the case throughout the trial.
Lawyers for Mr. Sancho said they planned to appeal the decision and accused the Thai police of deceiving Mr. Sancho into a reported confession earlier in the process, saying the investigation was “full of irregularities.”
“We have to accept what the court has said,” Carmen Balfagón, a spokeswoman for Mr. Sancho, told the Spanish news outlet El Mundo. “There are two appeals ahead, and we have to exhaust them.”
Rodolfo Sancho, Mr. Sancho’s father, an actor whose credits include the Spanish series “El Ministerio del Tiempo,” said after the verdict that his family would “continue fighting,” El Mundo reported.
Ramón Chippirrás, another spokesman for the family, said in an email that they did not yet have access to the full decision, but that there was the possibility of an appeal.
In addition to the life sentence, the court ordered Mr. Sancho to pay over four million baht, or about $130,000, to Mr. Arrieta’s family. “We are satisfied with the court sentence because we believe this sentence gives justice to the victim’s family,” Metapon Suwancharern, one of the lawyers representing Mr. Arrieta’s family, said in an interview. “Through the trial, we have proven that it is not self-defense.”
Mr. Sancho was eligible to receive the death penalty, but such sentences are rarely carried out in Thailand. Mr. Arrieta’s family did not want him to receive that punishment, said Juango Opsina, another lawyer representing the Arrieta family, who spoke to reporters in Madrid. “I hope that this sentence will serve to make Daniel Sancho reflect on the profound damage that has been done to a family.”
Muktita Suhartono contributed reporting.
Read More: Son of Spanish Actor Is Convicted of Murdering Colombian Surgeon in Thailand
