Chef Daniel Sancho, son of renowned Spanish actor Rodolfo Sánchez, was found guilty of the premeditated murder, dismemberment and concealment of the body of Colombian plastic surgeon Edwin Arrieta, on the tourist island of Koh Phangan, south of Thailand, in August 2023.
Sancho, 30, claimed he had acted in self-defence after an alleged sexual assault in August last year.
But during the trial, the prosecution provided evidence that Sancho had purchased knives and plastic bags that were kept in the room where the murder occurred.
The court also ordered him to pay US$119,000 in compensation to Arrieta’s family.
“The plaintiff is satisfied with the sentence because he (Sancho) will be imprisoned for life and they (the plaintiffs) will receive financial compensation,” Bussakorn Kaewleeled, a lawyer for the victim’s family, was quoted as saying by news agencies. AFP.
Chronology of the crime
In early August 2023, police discovered parts of Arrieta’s body in a landfill on Koh Phangan.
Almost at the same time, Sancho went to the police to report that Arrieta, then 44, was missing.
Sancho was arrested on August 8, 2023 on the Thai island and pleaded guilty before the courts of that country.
According to information provided to the court, the couple had met online and had arranged to meet on the island.
Speaking to the Spanish news agency EFESancho claimed that he had been a “hostage” of Arrieta and accused him of being obsessed with him.
“He held me hostage. It was a glass cage. He made me destroy my relationship with my girlfriend, he forced me to do things I would never have done,” she said.
However, Thai media reported that investigations had shown that Sancho had purchased, among other things, a knife, rubber gloves and a bottle of detergent, leading police to conclude that the murder was premeditated.
Sancho later led police to seven locations on the island, where he disposed of Arrieta’s dismembered body in plastic bags.
Shock
Edwin Arrieta Arteaga, 44, was born and raised in Lorica, a municipality of Córdoba, in the Colombian Caribbean.
He lived in the El Recreo neighborhood in Montería, the capital of the department.
In his hometown, there was shock over his murder.
As a surgeon, he was a member of the Colombian Society of Plastic, Aesthetic and Reconstructive Surgery (SCCP).
His sister described him as a noble person with a generous heart, in statements to local broadcaster Caracol.
“He was an excellent son, an excellent brother, uncle, friend. A person who liked to do charitable works,” said Darling Arrieta.
“His dream was to see the whole world, so Edwin spent his time travelling. My mother was always worried and told him: ‘Edwin, stop flying so much.’”
Arrieta studied medicine in Barranquilla, before continuing his studies in Buenos Aires, where he became a plastic surgeon.
Following his career, operating primarily women in Colombia and Chile, Arrieta He has garnered tens of thousands of followers on social media.
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