A local coffeeshop owner was convicted yesterday of running her business as a front for prostitution and sentenced to five years in prison by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court – though only 18 months of that sentence will be served.

Un Theang, 61, was arrested in late April during a raid by Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Police on her Tuol Kork district café.

Three employees were detained in the raid but later “educated” and released.

Neither Theang nor her attorney could be reached for comment yesterday, but at her September 9 hearing she confessed and asked for a reduced sentence.

“I accept that I was wrong in allowing my staff to have sex with guests in my coffeeshop in exchange for 5,000 riel per customer. I promise that I will not reoffend,” she said at the time.

Presiding Judge Kor Vandy said Theang retains the right to appeal.