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Son of Spanish actor sentenced to life in Thai prison for murder
Madrid-born Daniel Sancho murdered his lover before dismembering his body
The crime which has gripped Spain for more than a year has reached its dramatic conclusion this week with the sentencing of Daniel Sancho, a young Spanish man convicted of butchering his lover before chopping up the body and hiding the parts.
Although the drama was unfolding more than 10,000 kilometres away in Ko Phangan, all of Spain watched in shock as the handsome 30-year-old was arrested and thrown into a notorious Thai jail for the most heinous of crimes. What drew even more attention is the fact that the condemned man is the son of famous Spanish actor Rodolfo Sancho.
On Thursday August 29, the Provincial Court of Koh Samui found Sancho guilty of the premeditated murder of Colombian Edwin Arrieta last August. During a restricted hearing which lasted almost two hours, the judge took the death penalty off the table and handed down a life sentence instead.
He was also ordered to pay compensation of four million baht, approximately 105,000 euros, to the family of the Colombian surgeon.
The gruesome tale begins around this time last year, when the Spanish chef was living with his lover, the 44-year-old plastic surgeon, in Thailand. According to Sancho’s own testimony, he was feeling trapped in the relationship and wanted to escape, despite claims that the older man was paying him a monthly stipend equivalent to around 20,000 euros.
Sancho claimed that during an argument in a Koh Phangan hotel room, Arrieta attempted to sexually assault him, leading to a scuffle. He alleged that Arrieta fell, hit his head on a bathtub, and ultimately lost consciousness, leading to his death. However, the most grisly detail of this story is yet to come.
Using his knowledge from being a chef, Sancho proceeded to dismember the victim's body and dispose of the remains on land and at sea. During his trial on the nearby island of Koh Samui, he admitted to the gruesome act of hiding the body but denied destroying the Colombian's passport. Sancho's lawyers argued that he acted in self-defence.
His legal team has a month to appeal the sentence, leaving room for further developments in this shocking case.
Now, according to local law, Sancho will have to serve at least four years of his life sentence in Thailand before they’ll consider transferring him to a Spanish jail.
Up until now, the Spaniard has lived in relative comfort on the hospital wing of an island jail, but it’s likely that within a month or so he’ll be transferred to the notorious Bang Kwang prison. Better known as the ‘Bangkok Hilton’ or ‘The Big Tiger’ - because it devours its prisoners – it is one of the most dangerous prisons in the world. Located 7 kilometres from Bangkok, on the banks of the Chao Phraya River, it has a capacity for 3,000 prisoners, but it currently holds more than 7,000, all serving long sentences for the most serious of crimes.
Roughly 25% of prisoners die after just two years, due to malnutrition, disease and violence.
Image: Thai Royal Police
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