JULY 1: The Banteay Meanchey provincial court sentenced Mao Sim, 68, to 18

years in prison and ordered him to pay four million riel for a rape he committed

in Makak village. Sim was arrested in early January after the family of a 13-year-old

girl complained about him, said judge Eang Khlin. Sim said he raped the girl because

he felt in love with her.

JULY 1: Police arrested Vong Saut, 22, after he committed a murder in Svay

village, Battambang province. Police said Saut killed a 16-year-old girl, Sey Savoeun,

who he had loved. Saut, who came to stay with the girl's family three years ago,

confessed that he stabbed Savoeun in the neck and cut her throat with a knife because

her parents wanted her to marry a French man.

JULY 2: Police arrested Chang Siavmey, 29, after she killed her boyfriend,

Hak Bunhy, 22, at 7:10 a.m. at a casino where they worked together in Cham Yeam village,

Koh Kong province. Police said Siavmey shot Bunhy in the chest with a K-59 handgun

and then she attempted unsuccessfully to kill herself with the gun. Siavmey said

Bunhy promised to marry her, but later wanted to leave her.

JULY 3: A woman, Kheng Nget, 32, was sent to Calmette Hospital for treatment

after being shot while driving home on a motorbike at 10:45 p.m. in Depot 3 precinct,

Phnom Penh. The woman said that three people on a motorbike and two others on another

motorbike, blocked her path and shot her in the arm, then they escaped. The reason

of the shooting was not known.

JULY 3: Hoeun Soven, a 25-year-old construction worker, was knifed and severely

injured at 10:30 p.m. while driving a motorbike with his friend to the construction

site where they worked. Kong Mony, 20, said a group of 10 gangsters blocked their

path and chopped Soven three times in the head, then they escaped. Soven was sent

to a clinic but later transferred to Calmette Hospital because of his massive head

injuries. Mony said Soven had argued with one of the gangsters at a drinking shop

in the early evening.

JULY 3: A motorbike taxi driver, Chhoum Chheang, 40, was shot dead at 8:05

p.m. in Khbal Spean village, Banteay Meanchey province. A witness said that a soldier

from Division 51, Lok Saman, 47, punched Chheang in the face and shot him twice in

the chest with a K-54 handgun before escaping. The witness said Saman was angry because

Chheang beeped his motorcycle horn as he tried to pass the car, which was parked

on the street.

JULY 3: Sunthana Saiboon, a 24-year-old Thai woman, was arrested in the afternoon

while buying something at Toul Tumpoung market in Phnom Penh. Police said that Saiboon

had been using fake dollars while visiting Cambodia as a tourist. Saiboon confessed

that so far she had spent $1,000 at Sorya market. Police confiscated $1,000 and took

her into custody.JULY 4: Two gunmen killed a garment worker, Yoi Larch, 25, and stole

his motorbike while he was driving to a factory at 5:15 a.m. in Toul Pongror village,

Phnom Penh. A witness told police that the robbers shot Larch once in the temple

with a K-59 handgun while trying to drive away from the robbery.

JULY 4: Touch Dina, 40, a police official at the Ministry of Interior, was

found dead at 3 p.m. at the Asian Guesthouse in Sras Chak commune, Phnom Penh. A

worker at the guesthouse said Dina drove his car to the guesthouse and later shot

himself three times in the temple with a K-59 handgun. Police said Dina had committed

suicide because they found a divorce letter in his pocket. However, Dina's wife said

that there had been no problems in the family, and she really didn't know about the

reason of the suicide.

JULY 5: Meas Chhoun, 84, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for rape in Am

Pous village, Kampong Thom province. Judge Tauch Sakhoeun said Chhoun was arrested

after he raped his 15-year-old granddaughter in December last year. The girl said

at the hearing that she had been raped seven times since 2001. She said Chhoun gave

her 200 to 300 riel each time he raped her.

JULY 6: A mob killed a 32-year-old unidentified man after he and two accomplices

attempted to steal a motorbike from a couple, Yun Sophat, 31, and Chhun Samart, 30,

while they slept in Srok Thom village, Kandal province. Sophat told local authorities

that the thief entered his house through a window and aimed a K-59 handgun at his

head. Sophat said the thief dropped the gun and tried to run away after his wife

squeezed his testicle.

JULY 6: Lu Eayin, 34, a Taiwanese national, who owned the Paris Double Tea

shop, died at Calmette Hospital after being shot at midnight in O'Russei 4 commune,

Phnom Penh. A witness told police that an unknown man entered the shop and shot Eayin

twice, in the neck and the chest, before escaping on a motorbike with his accomplice

who waited for him in front of the shop. Police suspect revenge was the motive because

they escaped empty-handed.

JULY 6: An ambulance took a military official at the Ministry of National

Defense, Soam Pheaktra, 32, to the Russian hospital for surgery after he was shot

during a robbery at 8:20 p.m. in Prek Samroang village, Kandal province. A passer-by

told police that Pheaktra was stopped and shot four times with a handgun after trying

to resist three robbers who escaped on his motorbike.

JULY 7: Surn Vanthoeun, 44, fled after his wife learned that he raped his

stepdaughter in O'Dambang 1 commune, Battambang province. The mother came to police

and complained that Vanthoeun had raped her 15-year-old daughter. The mother said

that the daughter had conceived a child from the rape and was four months pregnant.

Police filed a complaint to arrest Vanthoeun for questioning.

JULY 8: A 25-year-old monk, Long Sophy, was arrested for rape in Thmey village,

Kampong Chhnang province. Police said that Sophy escaped to Thailand after he raped

a 23-year-old woman a year ago, and had just returned to his pagoda in Cambodia.

The woman said Sophy promised that he would marry her after the rape.

JULY 8: Police arrested Bun Chanthan, 17, for a rape he committed three days

earlier in Khbal Spean village, Banteay Meanchey province. Police said Chanthan raped

an 8-year-old girl and then tried to escape. The girl said that Chanthan persuaded

her to go to the upstairs level of his house to eat cake and raped her.

JULY 9: Police arrested a woman, Nhep Srey, 34, for questioning and later

took her into custody after she was accused of a murder in Prek Yuon village, Kampong

Cham province. Police suspect Srey killed a 10-year-old girl, Khin Sreyneat, and

stole her five-chi gold necklace. Police said that Sreyneat was murdered and her

body dumped in a canal.

JULY 10: An unidentified man killed a motorbike taxi driver, Sin San, 49,

and stole his bike in the early morning in Chamroeun Phal village, Phnom Penh. A

witness told police that the man, who pretended to be a passenger, ordered San to

stop and then struck him several times on the head with a stick before escaping on

his bike.

- Translated from Khmer newspapers Koh Santepheap and Rasmei Kampuchea by Aun

Pheap