A french national who works for circus group Phare Ponleu Selpak was stabbed in the arm and shoulder after trying to halt thieves who broke into his Battambang home early yesterday morning, police said.

The robbers took two laptops and a mobile phone from the home’s residents, who included Phare Ponleu Selpak employees and members of the band the Cambodian Space Project, said Battambang district police chief Pen Somoeun.  

Samoeun said the victim, Olivier Loke, 30, was injured when trying to grab the knife from the thief’s hand.

“He was treated in hospital in Battambang,” he said, adding that the laptops stolen were used to design cartoons that were part of the circus performance. Police are searching for at least two suspects, said Samoeun, adding that one man had been questioned yesterday afternoon but was released.

Khoun Det, director of Phare Ponleu Selpak said that, according to the victim’s account, Loke woke when the thieves tried to stab him as he slept, but he managed to fight them off and grab the knife from them before they escaped.