By Somkiat Raksaman and Panarat Thepgumpanat
SAMUI ISLAND, Thailand (Reuters) – A Thai court on Thursday jailed for life the son of Spanish actor Rodolfo Sancho for the high-profile murder and dismembering of a Columbian man last year on the popular tourist island of Koh Phangan.
A criminal court on the neighbouring island of Samui found Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, 30, guilty of the premeditated murder of Edwin Arrieta Arteaga, 44, whose body was cut up and concealed by the accused, a court statement said.
Daniel Sancho is the son of Rodolfo Sancho, who starred in “El Ministerio del Tiempo” (The Ministry of Time) and actress Silvia Bronchalo. He pleaded guilty to concealing the victim’s body, but denied premeditated murder, the court said.
Throughout the trial, Sancho had maintained the August 2023 killing of Arteaga, a plastic surgeon, was an act of self-defense, according to Thai media reports. His lawyer declined to comment when contacted by Reuters on Thursday.
Sancho was a chef on holiday in Thailand at the time of the incident, local media said.
He dismembered the victim’s body and placed parts of it in plastic bags that he distributed around the island.
The court initially sentenced him to death but reduced that to life imprisonment due to the account he gave of the events during cross examination. He was ordered to pay the victim’s family 4.42 million baht ($130,230) in compensation.
($1 = 33.9400 baht)
(Additional reporting by Panu Wongcha-um and Panarat Thepgumpanat in Bangkok; Editing by Martin Petty)
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