2023-08-07 15:48:59
CRIME
A Spanish man has confessed to murdering and dismembering the body of another foreigner on the popular Thai tourist island of Koh Pha Ngan, a crime which has shocked Spanish society, in part because he is the son of a famous actor.
Published: 7 August 2023 16:31 CEST
Daniel Sancho in police custody at one of the beaches where he took a kayak out to sea to dump body parts belonging to the Colombian surgeon he confessed to murdering. Photo: Thai Police Handout
The son of Spanish actor Rodolfo Sancho Aguirre was detained in Thailand on Saturday in connection with the death and dismemberment of a Colombian man on one of the Thailand’s paradise islands.
Police have confirmed that body parts including hips and thighs that were found at a rubbish dump on Thursday belong to a 44-year-old plastic surgeon they named as Edwin Arrieta Arteaga.
Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, 29, who arrived in Thailand on July 31st as a tourist, has confessed to the murder, police said.
“He admitted it,” Koh Pha Ngan’s police chief Panya Niratimanon, told AFP, adding the investigation is ongoing.
On Sunday Sancho accompanied Thai police to several different sites where he is accused of dumping plastic bags containing Arrieta’s body parts.
“The victim and the suspect knew each other before they came to Thailand, and his dubious activities indicate that he might murder the victim,” Panya said.
Sancho was seen on security camera footage purchasing a knife, plastic bags, gloves, cleaning products and other items soon after arriving on the island. He also reportedly bought a kayak for $1,000 in order to take some of the bags with body parts out to sea and dump them.
He was also spotted on CCTV footage riding a moped he had rented, with Arrieta sitting behind him.
The suspect is charged with premeditated murder and concealing and removing body parts to cover up the death or the cause of death of the victim.
Police first had their suspicions when Sancho when to Koh Pha Ngan police station to report Arrieta missing, and officers noticed scratches on his arms. Once tests confirmed Sancho’s DNA on Arrieta’s body parts, the 29 year old confessed.
“I am guilty, but I was Edwin’s hostage,” Sancho reportedly said during a conversation with Thai public defenders and several agents at the Koh Phangan police station, where he is being held.
“He held me hostage. It was a glass cage, but it was a cage. He made me destroy my relationship with my girlfriend, he forced me to do things that I would never have done”.
Numerous outlets have reported that Arrieta had invested in Sancho’s restaurant, with the accused claiming that the Colombian surgeon wanted to have a physical relationship in return.
The grisly murder has been widely reported in Spain because Sancho, who works as a chef, is the son of well-known Spanish actor Rodolfo Sancho, who has appeared in popular Spanish TV series such as The Ministry of Time and Isabel. His grandfather Sancho Gracia was also a famous Spanish actor.
The case has similarities to the murder and dismemberment of a Spanish engineer in Thailand by a businessman also from Spain. The accused Artur Segarra had his death sentence reduced to life imprisonment by the King of Thailand Rama X in 2020.
Thailand is a relatively safe country where violent crimes are rare. Koh Pha Ngan is famed for white sandy beaches and draws thousands of backpackers to its notoriously wild “full moon” parties.
In 2014, another tourist island Koh Tao was rocked by the double murder of two young British backpackers.
Two Burmese nationals are serving sentences of life imprisonment for the murders, but rights groups have accused Thai authorities of using the men as scapegoats.
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