Daniel Sancho Bronchalo: Spanish actor’s son jailed for murdering surgeon on Thai island
A YouTube chef has been jailed for life for the murder of a plastic surgeon on a holiday island in Thailand.
Daniel Sancho Bronchalo was convicted of killing Edwin Arrieta Arteaga, from Colombia, on Koh Pha-ngan in southern Thailand, last August.
Bronchalo, 30, is the son of Rodolfo Sancho Aguirre, a prominent Spanish actor, and Silvia Bronchalo, also an actor. Both were in court for Thursday’s verdict.
Rodolfo Sancho. File pic: AP
Sancho told his trial that he acted in self defence when Mr Arteaga tried to sexually assault him.
He claimed they got into a fight and the 44-year-old fell and hit his head on a bathtub, losing consciousness and then dying.
He had denied premeditated murder – but admitted dismembering the body and disposing of the parts on land and at sea.
Surveillance video obtained by police showed Sancho allegedly purchasing a knife, rubber gloves, garbage bags and cleaning solutions at a convenience store before Arrieta’s death, which prosecutors claimed bolstered the charge of premeditated murder.
Police had claimed that Sancho had confessed to the murder, saying he had planned it because Mr Arteaga threatened to disgrace him and his family by revealing their alleged sexual relationship.
Silvia Bronchalo. File pic: AP
In his closing statement earlier in his trial, Sancho told the court he regretted his actions, the Spanish newspaper El País reported.
“I am sorry that a life has been lost and that parents have lost a son,” Sancho said. “I am sorry that his family was not able to bury him properly. I’m sorry for what I did after the death.”
For the charge of concealing or damaging a body, he received a four-month prison sentence, reduced by half because he confessed.
He had also pleaded not guilty to the charge of destroying another person’s documents – the victim’s passport – for which he received a two-year prison term.
The Koh Samui provincial court issued an initial sentence of death for Sancho, but commuted it to life imprisonment because he cooperated during the trial, according to police.
The elements of the case – violent death on a holiday island, the celebrity connections and the lurid details – made it a huge story in Spain, prompting HBO to produce a Spanish-language documentary on the events.
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Bussakorn Kaewleeled, a lawyer for the victim’s family, said they were satisfied with the outcome.
Bussakorn told reporters outside court: “The plaintiff is satisfied with the sentence because he [Sancho] will be put in prison for life and they [the plaintiff] receive some financial compensation.”
Israel has approved a plan to capture all of the Gaza Strip and remain there for an unspecified length of time, Israeli officials say.
According to Reuters, the plan includes distributing aid, though supplies will not be let in yet.
The Israeli official told the agency that the newly approved offensive plan would move Gaza’s civilian population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into Hamas’s hands.
On Sunday, the United Nations rejected what it said was a new plan for aid to be distributed in what it described as Israeli hubs.
Israeli cabinet ministers approved plans for the new offensive on Monday morning, hours after it was announced that tens of thousands of reserve soldiers are being called up.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far failed to achieve his goal of destroying Hamas or returning all the hostages, despite more than a year of brutal war in Gaza.
Palestinian children struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza. Pic: AP
Officials say the plan will help with these war aims but it would also push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
They said the plan included the “capturing of the strip and the holding of territories”.
It would also try to prevent Hamas from distributing humanitarian aid, which Israel says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza.
The UN rejected the plan, saying it would leave large parts of the population, including the most vulnerable, without supplies.
It said it “appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”.
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IDF reservists call for end to war in Gaza
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More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the IDF launched its ground offensive in the densely-populated territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
It followed the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
A fragile ceasefire that saw a pause in the fighting and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners collapsed earlier this year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
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