Artur Segarra Princep, 38, was given the death penalty by the Criminal Court last year.
He was convicted of the premeditated murder of David Bernat, 41, kidnapping, body concealment, torture and theft. He had entered pleas of not guilty.
Segarra, 38, was taken to the courthouse from Bang Kwang Central Prison today today (July 13) to hear the Appeal Court's ruling. The judges upheld the judgement of the Criminal Court.
The court was told that between Jan 20 and Jan 26, 2016, Segarra forcibly kept his business friend Mr Bernat in a room at PG Condominium Rama IX in Huay Kwang district and tortured him into transferring B10 million into Segarra's bank account. Segarra withdrew about B700,000 in cash before killing him in the room.
The victim’s body was frozen before Segarra dismembered the corpse and dropped the bagged pieces in the Chao Phraya River. He fled Thailand to Cambodia, where he was arrested in Sihanoukville on Feb 7, 2016. Cambodian authorities handed him over to Thai police a day later.
The case drew huge media and public attention. Even after his conviction, Segarra has consistently denied the charges through lawyers and friends.
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