Rodolfo Sancho’s son, Daniel Sancho Bronchalo, has confessed to having “murdered and dismembered to a Colombian in Thailand”. The victim is Edwin Arrieta Arteaga, a 44-year-old plastic surgeon who had arrived in the Asian country on July 31 and whose disappearance Daniel himself had reported just a few days ago. His dismembered body was found in several garbage bags in a dump on the tourist island Koh Pha Ngan and, although the actor’s son initially denied the facts, he finally succumbed to the pressure of the agents and confessed to the crime, according to the version maintained by the country’s authorities.
The bad news for the Sancho family does not end there, because Thailand has one of the toughest laws in the world and the penal code is very strict in everything related to homicides.. Thus, in its article 288 it can be read that anyone who is found guilty of murder may be sentenced to prison for a period of between 15 and 20 years, to life imprisonment or to the death penalty.
The latter is applied infrequently today, but it is done in extreme cases. “As it is a crime of murder with two aggravating circumstances, highly aggravated homicide, well it would practically have the death penalty as a sanction, it would not be life imprisonment”, has expressed the lawyer Marcos García Montes.
The evidence against Sancho, according to various Thai media, seems compelling. The agents would have images from security cameras in which Sancho can be seen buying knives and a saw, as well as traveling on a motorcycle with a sports bag. In this way, although it is early to know what the judge will rule, Daniel would face a very harsh sentence that could go from capital punishment to spending many years in a prison in Thailandan enclosure with difficult hygiene and nutrition conditions and where the safety of the prisoners is not guaranteed.
Daniel Sancho’s option in case of being sentenced to death
Executions, although permitted by law, are rare in the country. Also, many of the sentences are commuted, so there would still be an option for Daniel if he were sentenced to death. We find a precedent in the figure of Artur Segarra, a Spaniard who was convicted of the murder of businessman David Bernat in Bangkok in 2016. He was sentenced to death, but was finally released thanks to the King of Thailand, Maha Vajiralongkorn.
The condemned man requested clemency from the monarch by means of a letter and achieved his objective, since he was given a life sentence and the possibility of being transferred to a Spanish prison was even opened. Of course, for the latter he has to first serve a total of eight years in a Thai prison.
