MAY 21: Tean Sopheak, 18, was arrested for a murder two years ago in Stung

Meanchey commune, Phnom Penh. Police said Sopheak returned home after he escaped

with three accomplices after they killed a man and stole his bicycle then sold it

for $15. Police named the three others as Rith, Da and Heng.

MAY 21: Meas Vanna, 34, was sent to a provincial hospital for treatment after

a group of gangsters chopped him with a heavy knife during an argument at 2:30pm

in Prek Sangke village, Kampong Cham province. A bystander said the gangsters chopped

Vanna once in the chest and cut one of his arms off then escaped. The bystander said

the gangsters were angry after Vanna came to stop the fighting while they were arguing

with three other drunken people.

MAY 21: Math Khalay, 36, was attacked with a knife in a robbery while she

was working with her 10-year-old daughter at a cashew field in Krasaing village,

Kampong Cham province. Khalay, who is now under treatment at a provincial hospital,

said the robber, named Rian, chopped her once in the arm and stabbed her three times

in the breast then tried to steal her gold earrings. Khalay said Rian escaped into

a nearby forest when her husband came upon them.

MAY 21: Saing Chea, 59, was shot dead with an M16 rifle while staying at his

second wife's house at 7:30pm in Kandol Sar village, Pursat province. Soeung Sopheak,

deputy chief of provincial criminal police, said revenge was the motive because people

cheered after Chea died. Sopheak said two years earlier Chea had come to see him

and complained that some people had tried to kill him, apparently accusing him of

sorcery.

MAY 22: A motorbike taxi driver, Poeu Rak, 29, was axed during a robbery at

10:40pm in Sar Sdom commune, Siem Reap province. Rak, who is now under treatment

at a provincial hospital, said two people promised to pay him 10,000 riel for a ride.

While he was taking them they asked him to stop to urinate, then one of them chopped

him three times in the head then ran away empty-handed when police arrived.

MAY 23: Police are looking for Reth Ra, 28, who escaped after mortally wounding

his sister-in-law, Chin Cheat, 26, in Svay Teap commune, Kampong Cham province. Police

said Ra was angry and struck Cheat on the back of the head with a hammer because

she argued with his wife. Cheat later died at a district hospital.

MAY 23: Sau Mop, 63, was arrested for the rape of his 13-year-old stepdaughter

a year earlier in Tumnop Thmey village, Kampong Chhnang province. The girl's mother

said Mop had raped her daughter every night since she was 12 years old, but she had

not complained to police because he threatened to kill her and her whole family.

MAY 23: Police arrested Soeun Chanry, 25, and charged him with the attempted

murder of a karaoke worker, Tep Sreypov, 20, the previous night in Phnom Penh. Men

Siburn, deputy chief of provincial military police, said Chanry and three accomplices

grabbed Sreypov and pushed her into a car then strangled her with a rope while she

was eating on a street in Phnom Penh. Siburn said the men dropped Sreypov on National

Road 4 in Slar village, Kampong Speu province because they thought she was dead.

Siburn speculated that Sreypov was having an affair with a married man who owned

the karaoke shop where she worked in Kampong Speu province and this might have been

a motive for the attempted murder.

MAY 24: The naked decapitated body of a man about 30 years old was found floating

in a stream in O'Sambour village, Kampong Thom province. Police lifted up the body

out of the water and said the man was murdered elsewhere with a knife and the head

cut off then his body dumped in the stream the previous night. Police later found

the head in the water about four kilometers away.

MAY 24: Leang Lin, 18, was arrested for the rape of a six-year-old girl the

previous day in Kampong Thmar commune, Kampong Thom province. Police said Lin raped

the girl while her parents were away planting rice.

MAY 25: Environment officer Ma Hak shot and wounded two fellow workers during

a drinking session at 11pm on Kirirom mountain in Phnom Srouch district, Kampong

Speu province. Provincial Criminal Police Chief Chanda named the two wounded as Chuon

Khoeun, 35, and Nhem Dan, 33, who were shot with an AK-47 and they later sent to

Preah Kossamak hospital for surgery in Phnom Penh. Chanda said the gunman escaped.

MAY 25: Yin Chhoeun, 40, was taken to a provincial hospital for treatment

after his second wife, Reach Hing, chopped him with an ax during an argument at 10pm

in Khlar Laut village, Svay Reang province. Police said the woman chopped Chhoeun

once in the head then escaped. Police said Chhoeun took five pieces of beef from

a wedding party at his cousin's house and gave his wife three pieces for cooking.

Chhoeun later returned to take the meat back for eating while drinking palm wine

but his wife had already eaten it..

MAY 26: A beergirl, Eng Chinda, 19, complained to police that two men whose

names she did not know robbed her and a friend while they were all picnicking at

9:30am in Prek Takong village, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. Chinda said the men

had established a relationship with her and her friend during the previous two months

then brought them to a quiet place where they robbed her of two mobile phones and

a platinum bracelet. Chinda said the men escaped into Phnom Penh on two motorbikes

after they attempted to rape her.

MAY 26: San Sotha, 32, died in Calmette Hospital an hour after he was shot

with a QPZ92 handgun at 10:15pm at a karaoke shop where he had drunk a case of beer

with two friends in Russei Keo district, Phnom Penh. Hak Sary, 36, a bodyguard, said

Sotha was accidentally shot in the stomach by Sary's gun while giving Sary a massage

as he had a pain in his stomach after becoming drunk.

MAY 27: Police arrested Sok Chea, 42, after he was accused of raping his wife,

Mao Chan, 35, the previous night in Por village, Svay Reang province. Chan told police

Chea used fingers to hurt her then raped her when he was drunk.

MAY 28: Nhoung Nget, 27, died at Russian Hospital after she was beaten by

her husband, Phan Pha, 28, the previous day in Chhbar Ampov 2 commune, Phnom Penh.

A witness told police the argument happened after Nget refused to give Pha 70,000

riel because she didn't have the money. The witness said Pha accused Nget of having

an extramarital affair with a man.

MAY 28: A 22-year-old beergirl, Touch, was chopped to death during a jealous

argument at midnight at a guest house in Bali Lay village, Banteay Meanchey province.

Kong Kuon, the commune chief of Poipet, said Touch was struck in the neck with a

heavy knife by her boyfriend, who escaped. Kuon said the boyfriend was angry as Touch

screamed that she no longer loved him.

MAY 29: Four young men escaped on two motorbikes after robbing a money exchanger,

Heng Pheng, 45, at 7:50am while he was preparing to leave his home in Mittapheap

commune for the Olympic market where he works with his wife in Phnom Penh. Pheng

said the robbers knocked him down on the head with the butt of a handgun and picked

up a money case containing $7,000 and his two mobilephones.

MAY 29: A policeman, Seang Longsidet, 28, was shot and wounded during a robbery

while sitting on a bench with a girlfriend in Hun Sen Park about 3am in Tonle Bassac

commune, Phnom Penh. The girlfriend told police Longsidet was shot in the shoulder

with a handgun when he refused to give four robbers the key of his motorbike. The

robbers escaped empty-handed on their two motorbikes.

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

Pheap