Violent attack

A secondary school teacher was charged with causing injury yesterday in Preah Sihanouk province for slashing the throat of a karaoke parlour’s security guard, after the guard stopped him from entering the business to confront the owner over a financial dispute.

The teacher – Kem Sovann, 25 – had gone to the Star World Karaoke in the small hours of Monday morning with two friends after Sovann’s girlfriend, a karaoke hostess, told him her boss had cut her salary by $45, Kol Phally, deputy chief of provincial police, said.

“He got angry with the boss of the karaoke shop,” Phally said. “But the security guard prohibited him and his friends from entering the shop to meet the boss.”

This was when Sovann told his two friends to hold the security guard – Im Rattana, 26 – down while Sovann attacked him with a knife, said a senior provincial police officer who declined to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

“During the throat slashing, the victim managed to escape and run to the police station for help,” the officer added. After the attack Sovann and his friends fled the scene on a motorbike.

Sovann’s two friends remain at large, said the officer, adding that although he was left with 20 stitches on his neck, Rattana survived the attack and is recuperating at the provincial hospital.

Sovann and his family could not be contacted for comment yesterday.