Battambang Provincial
Court on Saturday charged a 27- year-old-man for killing his 29-year-old brother-in-law
in a drunken dispute that took place during the Pchum Ben Festival, in Phnom
Proek district on the Cambodian-Thai border.
Major Nuon Pheap, the
Deputy Chief of Phnom Proek District Police, identified the accused as Choum
Phearum, 27, a farmer living in Damnak Beng village, in Bour commune, in
Battambang province’s Phnom Proek district.
He identified the victim
as Bun Chanthorn, 29, a farmer living in the same village in Bour commune.
The victim and the
accused are brothers-in-law.
He added that the accused
was charged with “murder” under Article 199 of the Criminal Code. If convicted,
he faces a sentence of 10 to 15 years in prison.
Maj Pheap added that the
accused was arrested on September 17 after he had killed the victim by hacking
his head numerous times with a cleaver.
He noted that at about 8
pm on September 17, the victim and the accused, as well as the 58-year-old
father-in-law had been drinking beer together at the older man’s house located
in Bour commune. Once they were drunk an argument broke out between the victim
and his father-in-law.
He said that during the
course of the argument, the victim began to beat his father-in-law and the
accused intervened to help the older man.
“The accused was drunk
and angry with the victim for having beaten the father-in-law in front of him,”
he told Khmer Times.
“He took a cleaver and
hacked the victim’s face and cheeks several times, killing him on the spot,” he
said.
He added that after killing
the victim, the accused managed to flee from the scene of the crime but was
arrested later on the same night at about 9 pm.
Police seized a cleaver
from him.
