A YouTube chef was sentenced to life in prison this week for murder after the victim was found dismembered last year.
On Thursday, 30-year-old Daniel Sancho Bronchalo was found guilty by a court in Thailand of premeditated murder and received a life sentence.
The Koh Samui Provincial Court initially sentenced Sancho to death but reduced it to life imprisonment due to his cooperation during the trial, according to Police Colonel Paisan Sangthep, deputy commander of the Surat Thani Provincial Police, who was present at the hearing.
Sancho, a chef that made videos on YouTube, is a member of a famous Spanish acting family, and he was previously charged with the murder of 44-year-old Edwin Arrieta Arteaga, a Colombian plastic surgeon, who was found dead in Thailand last year. Sancho and Arteaga were on a vacation in the Thai island of Koh Pha-ngan last August.
The Spanish news agency EFE reported that Sancho was also ordered by the Thai court to pay 4.2 million baht ($125,000) to the victim's family. The victim's lawyers previously argued for Sancho to pay 30 million baht, or $882,000.
Sancho is the son of Spanish actors Rodolfo Sancho Aguirre and Silvia Bronchalo, who were both in attendance at their son's hearing on Thursday.
Sancho's father told reporters following the verdict that he plans "to always keep fighting, to keep fighting," EFE reported.
During the trial, Sancho argued that he got into an altercation with Arteaga and claimed that Arteaga tried to sexually assault him. Sancho claimed that the two got into a physical fight and Arteaga hit his head on a bathtub while falling, causing him to lose consciousness before eventually dying.
Sancho had pleaded not guilty to the charges but did acknowledge that he dismembered Arteaga's body after he died. Paisan said during the trial that Sancho initially received a four-month prison sentence for hiding and damaging Arteaga's body, but the sentence was later lowered to two-months after he acknowledged it.
He also pleaded not guilty to destroying the victim's passport, a charge that resulted in a two-year prison sentence.
The crime prompted widespread interest and HBO created a Spanish documentary on the details surrounding the incident.
Arteaga's body was initially found by trash collectors, who reported finding a cut-off torso. Sancho later reported that Arteaga was missing, prompting police to launch an investigation into what happened.
"I am sorry that a life has been lost and that parents have lost a son," Sancho said during closing statements of the trial. "I am sorry that his family was not able to bury him properly. I'm sorry for what I did after the death."
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
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