The Appeal Court has upheld a life sentence for Spanish chef Daniel Sancho Bronchalo for the premeditated murder of Colombian surgeon Edwin Arrieta Arteaga on Koh Phangan.
The court on Friday also upheld his convictions for concealing the victim’s body and destroying his passport, rejecting Sancho’s appeals against the convictions, his arrest and the police investigation.
Sancho had claimed the death in August 2023 resulted from an accidental fall during a fight. The court found his initial statement to police, in which he admitted forcefully striking Arrieta’s head against a washbasin, more credible than his later account in court.
It ruled that Sancho’s decision to remain in the room for about an hour before dismembering the body showed he intended to kill Arrieta.
The court also found evidence of premeditation, citing Sancho’s preparation of a knife, saw, cleaver, rubbish bags, rubber gloves and cleaning equipment at Bohemian Villa, where he took Arrieta instead of the hotel the victim had booked.
It rejected a request for additional testimony, ruling that the existing evidence was sufficient, and dismissed Sancho’s challenge to the legality of his detention and the investigation.
The Samui Provincial Court sentenced Sancho to death for premeditated murder in August 2024 but reduced the sentence to life imprisonment because his evidence was considered partly useful.
He also received four months for concealing the body, reduced to two months after his guilty plea, and two years for destroying the passport. Those terms could not be added to the life sentence.
Arrieta’s parents, who joined the case as co-plaintiffs, had sought 30 million baht in compensation. The Appeal Court upheld the trial court’s award of 4.424 million baht.
The court also rejected the parents’ appeal for the death penalty.