In a hearing at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday, three defendants denied having killed a motodop in a robbery in Chroy Changvar district last year, despite one having allegedly confessed to the crime during police interrogation – a confession he disowned in court.

Male defendants Ny Nith, 30, and Thoeun Ravy, 29, and female defendant Van Dareth, 30, were arrested in December 2015, more than a month after they were alleged to have robbed and killed motodop Loeung Thang Lim, 52, in late October. Judge Chuon Sorasey noted that each of the defendants had been involved in multiple robbery cases, some of which were already tried.

According to a police report taken from the questioning of Nith and read in court yesterday, Nith purportedly told officers that the trio had planned for Dareth to hail a motodop and bring him to the other two.

Ravy then attacked the man with a crescent wrench, the statement continued. When the victim tried to run, Nith and Ravy caught him, “and Theoun Ravy hit him with the adjustable crescent on the head until he died”, it said.

Nith, however, maintained yesterday that he had made a false confession “because police beat me”. Both Dareth and Ravy, meanwhile, strongly denied any involvement in the case, even as Ravy acknowledged involvement in several others.

“I have five cases [against me]; I was involved in the other four cases, but not in this one,” he said. A verdict is due on December 8.