newkidontheblock wrote: ↑Sun May 07, 2023 7:31 pm Must be a rough village they live in. Plainclothes cops already have guns drawn and ready for use.

It's bandit country.

Doc67 wrote: ↑Mon May 08, 2023 12:21 pm A severe beating and now getting shot. It seems that Geoff has been pissing off a lot of people and it's beginning to unravel.

The beating and getting shot were unrelated to each other?
Not really been paying much attention to be fair though I did find the Kampot bus thread/fiasco entertaining to read.

I am unsure as to how people, with what at first glance appear to have the financial where-with-all, land in Cambodia with a significant bank balance fall prey to these types of thing. If they accumulated the money over many years of astute investments and have a good business acumen how can they make such bad decisions once they arrive in Cambodia?

It remains difficult to sort facts from rumor: The (unconfirmed) information on this event so far is that on 29 April, four Cambodian men from Battambang are alleged to have driven to the house of Geoffrey McComb, a New Zealand man who runs a business in Kampot, to reclaim a debt from him. Violence followed, and the four Cambodian men then drove back to western Cambodia empty-handed. Two of them have now been arrested for attempted murder.

May 9, 2023
Two charged with attempted murder of Kampot expat
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea / Khmer Times
Kampot provincial court yesterday charged and jailed two men for attempting to kill a New Zealander residing in the province.

The incident took place at 10:30 pm on April 29 night in Bot Kbal Damrey village, Mak Prang commune in Toek Chhou district of Kampot province.

Major General Mao Chanmathurith, Chief of the Kampot Provincial Police, named the two accused perpetrators as Heng Sambath, 35; and Tiv Hoklay, 22. The two accused men are employed as automobile mechanics in Battambang city.

He named the victim as Geoffrey Brent McComb, a citizen of New Zealand and owner of a restaurant in Mak Prang commune.

He added that the two men were charged with “attempted murder” under Articles 27 and 199 of the Cambodian Criminal Code.

If convicted, they face a prison terms between 10 and 15 years each.

Toek Chhou district police deputy chief, Major Mom Sovutha, said yesterday that on the day of the accident the victim, McComb, and his Cambodian girlfriend had a verbal argument with a group of four Cambodian men in front of their rented home in Mak Prang commune.

Maj Sovutha said that the argument was started by one of the suspects who alleged that McComb owed him money. McComb refused to repay the alleged debt.

He added that during the ensuing argument, the four suspects thought that the victim had insulted them because they do not speak English language well. Consequently, the four men physically assaulted him.

“After the beating the New Zealander, McComb, one of the two arrested suspects drew a gun and fired a shot, causing serious injuries to McComb’s thigh,” he said yesterday.

“After that, all four men fled the scene in a car at night,” he said.

He said that the two suspects, Sambath and Hoklay, were arrested last Thursday in Pursat province.

Two other suspects involved in the alleged murder attempt remain at large. Police are searching for the two other suspects in order to bring them to justice.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501286814/ ... auranteur/