Pursat Province, Cambodia News: At 6:20 pm on November 24, 2018, Boeung Bophoug villagers of Bakan District, attacked the home of an elderly couple, 83-year-old Thuzana, and his wife, Hun Nem, age 72.
The villagers believed that the couple were making their children sick, so a vigilante group of three or four men went to their house, where they killed the man with a knife and left the old lady injured. Witnesses say that there was a lot of bad feeling against the couple, because the villagers were sure that they were using witchcraft.
Police say that this was only a rumor and cannot be true, and the suspects will be charged with the murder of the old man.

This case, where an 83-year-old man was murdered last November in Pursat, has caught the attention of international media, who are surprised to learn that sorcery and superstition are alive and well in Cambodia.

Sorcery and black magic are alive and well in Cambodia, and they’re worth killing over
Outbreaks of disease, unsolved deaths or bad luck are often blamed by villagers on witchcraft, and sometimes there are violent consequences
PUBLISHED : Monday, 14 January, 2019, 8:04pm
Phnom Penh seems to have all the trappings of a modern cosmopolitan city: towering skyscrapers, world-class restaurants and painfully air-conditioned shopping malls. But venture a few hours outside the capital and things become different very quickly.

There is, particularly in rural provinces, a pervasive belief in the supernatural in Cambodia. Near the end of November, a couple was attacked in Pursat Province – about 200km northwest of Phnom Penh – by a small mob accusing them of killing someone’s daughter with sorcery. The accused husband, 83, was beaten to death while his wife, 72, was shot in the leg with a home-made rifle.

Alleged sorcerers are often blamed for unexplained deaths, a rash of illnesses or other small-town misfortunes, leading to a beheading in November 2017 and a deadly stabbing in 2016 – just two examples.

Ryun Patterson, a former journalist with The Cambodia Daily and author of Vanishing Act: A Glimpse Into Cambodia’s World of Magic, said there is a large economic element to sorcery incidents.

The poor and disenfranchised often find their belief in magic and witchcraft can explain factors outside their control.

“They look to these people [fortune-tellers and spirit mediums] to give them any sort of sense that things could possibly be better for them,” he said. “They’re in a kind of hopeless situation.”

Bringing up the topic of sorcery in provincial towns is likely to be met with hushed voices and averted glances. Cambodians – even in the capital – are generally religious and hold firm beliefs in the supernatural. Ghost stories and fortune telling are part of life, with many believing a trip to a temple or pagoda, can bring them and their loved ones good luck.
https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeas ... mbodia-and

UPDATE: Appeal Fails


June 28, 2022
Appeal court refuses to reduce jail term in murder case
[excerpts]
The Phnom Penh Appeal Court yesterday refused to reduce 30 years in jail given to two farmers convicted of hacking an alleged sorcerer to death and causing serious injuries to his wife in a case that dated back to 2018.

The two accused Khun Dara, 53 and his younger brother Khun Chanthan, 50, had appealed to the Phnom Penh Appeal Court against the Pursat Provincial Court which sent them to 30 years in prison and fined $5,000 (20 million riel) over the crime. The duo were sentenced by the Pursat Provincial Court on March 20, 2020.

Presiding Judge Nguon said yesterday, “The Phnom Penh Appeal Court has considered the appeal but the sentence given by the Pursat Provincial Court was found to be appropriate considering the gravity of the crime that they both had committed.”

During yesterday’s appeal hearing, the two accused, who were present at the courtroom, admitted to committing the offence, but justified the attack because the victims were sorcerers and did black magic on their families and other villagers.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/501102300/ ... rder-case/

Sorcerer Killers Appeal to Supreme Court

Cambodia News, (Phnom Penh): The Supreme Court on February 27, 2023, heard the appeals of two men who were sentenced by a lower court to 30 years in prison each for murder.
Two brothers, Khun Dara, 53, and Khun Chanthorn, 50, were convicted of the killing of an elderly man in Boeung Bot Kandal village, Bakan district, Pursat province on November 24, 2018. The two men believed that Thu Chhorn, a 73-year-old farmer and traditional medicine healer, and his wife, Hun Nem, 72, were sorcerers who had cast bad spells on their family. The old man was hacked to death with an ax and his wife was severely injured.

Upon conviction, the two defendants were sentenced by the Pursat Provincial Court on March 20, 2020, to 30 years in prison and ordered to pay 20 million riel to each victim's family. They appealed before the Phnom Penh Municipal Court which upheld the lower court's verdict, so they went on to appeal to the Supreme Court.
The defendents are appealing for a sentence reduction due to mitigating circumstances, considering that their attacks on the elderly couple were acts of self-defense against black magic caused by the victims.

The two brothers were arrested on November 25, 2018 in Bot Kandol village, Bot Kandol commune, Bakan district, Pursat province.
The Supreme Court will announce the appeal decision on the morning of March 6, 2023.