Murder he wrote ?

The publisher of a small local newspaper, a frequent gambler, was in the dock at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday over allegations he robbed and murdered a 35-year-old man to pay off gambling debts in Kandal province in 2015, according to court officials.

Presiding Judge Ly Limeng said Som Kimsean, a 38-year-old publisher and writer for Sovann Nokor newspaper, was charged by the prosecutor with “premeditated murder” under article 200 of the Penal Code.

He said Mr. Kimsean was arrested by military police in May last year in Kandal province’s Koh Thom district.

He said the murder happened on May 23 at about midnight after he and two accomplices, who are still at large, convinced 35-year-old Srun Sopheak to drink with them at a Karaoke bar in Phnom Penh’s Chamkarmon district. They drugged his drinks during the course of the evening.

“They persuaded the victim to drink and sing at a karaoke shop in Boeng Trabek commune. While they were drinking they put a drug in the victim’s glass while went to the bathroom,” he said.

“When the victim passed out, they brought him to his car and drove him to the outskirts of the city to kill him and rob him of his car.”

He said the victim was strangled while they were driving out of town and they stuffed his body in a sack and dumped it in a canal near Solar Road in Teuk Thla commune before attempting to pawn his car.

He said after several failed attempts to sell the vehicle, they managed to pawn it at a casino garage in Kandal province.

“After taking the victim’s car, they pawned it for $5,000 at a casino’s garage in Koh Thom district and split the money,” he said.

Mr. Sopheak’s body was found by residents on the morning of May 23, who then reported it to police...


http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/25991/ ... er-charge/

Accused killer changes story
Fri, 10 June 2016
Niem Chheng

The publisher of a small newspaper claimed during a hearing at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday that he was forced to confess to a premeditated murder charge.

The accused, Som Kimsean, 38, who publishes the newspaper Sovann Nokor, was arrested in May last year after the body of Srun Sopheak was found dumped in the capital’s Sen Sok district. Two other men implicated in the crime are still on the run.

After Kimsean denied responsibility for the crime, judge Ly Lipmeng requested that the court clerk read the confession police obtained from him.

“I and three other friends including Mab, Bo, and Srun Sopheak went to sing karaoke . . . a companion put sleeping pills into Sopheak’s beer while he was in the restroom,” the police report read.

“When Sopheak was drunk due to the beer, we took him to his car and Bo drove us to somewhere in Sen Sok district.

When we got to a quiet place, we used rope to strangle him and put him in a sack and threw the corpse there.”

According to the statement, the three friends then tried unsuccessfully to pawn the car – a 2007-model Toyota Camry – at Nagaworld for $15,000.

One Nagaworld employee said the suspects had lost some $20,000 in gambling at the casino in the days prior to Sopheak’s death.

But Kimsean said he was coerced into giving that confession, claiming police beat him and broke his tooth, which the judge said was “not possible”.

His defence lawyer requested downgrading the charge to benefiting from stolen goods. A verdict is due on July 1.
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/a ... nges-story

UPDATE

Cambodia News (Phnom Penh): On February 22, 2022, the owner of Sovann Nokor newspaper and 2 co-conspirators were sentenced to life imprisonment for premeditated murder, robbery, and tampering with physical evidence. The body of the victim, which was discarded at a dumpster on street 371, Obek Ka'om, Sangkat Teuk Thla, Khan Sen Sok, was found on May 23, 2015.

The convicted suspects are the owner of the newspaper, Som Kimsean, a 44-year-old man, Sey Pharada called Mab, a 42-year-old man, and Soung Saray called Bo, who has been in hiding and is still on the run. The other two of the three convicted suspects were detained by police on July 1, 2016.
The victim was a 35-year-old man, Srun Sopheak from Preak Tanu village, Sangkat Chak Angre Leu, Khan Mean Chey.

UPDATE
Supreme Court adjourns appeal of former publisher of Sovannakorn newspaper and two other accomplices for murder.

Cambodia News, (Phnom Penh): On the morning of March 29, 2023, the Phnom Penh Supreme Court adjourned the hearing of the appeals of the former publisher of Sovannakorn newspaper and his two partners in crime, who were sentenced by the lower court to life imprisonment for premeditated murder.
The three men were found guilty of killing a man in order to plunder his property, and of eliminating evidence of the crime in a garbage dump on Street 371, Khan Sen Sok, during 2015. The defendents first drank with their victim, then they drugged him and took him away in his car. When the defendents arrived in Sen Sok near the garbage dump, they killed the victim, and put the body into a bag which they stuffed under a pile of garbage.


Mr. You Ottara, Chief Judge of the Trial Chamber, stated that the three defendents are Som Kim Sean, 44, a former publisher of Sovan Nokor newspaper, and Sipharada alias Mab, 42 years old, and a third man, who escaped and has been on the run since the crime was committed in 2015, (more than 7 years ago) - Suong Saray, alias Bo.

On July 1, 2016, the three defendants were sentenced by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to life imprisonment for premeditated murder under Article 200 of the Penal Code. They later appealed, but the Phnom Penh Court of Appeal upheld their sentence. They have now renewed their appeal before the Supreme Court.