JANUARY 27: Police arrested Bok Ke, 21, after he allegedly raped his 36-year-old

aunt in Chruoy Svay village, Koh Kong province. The victim told police she was asleep

in her bed when Ke took her by the arm to another room and assaulted her. She went

willingly, she said, because confused and half-asleep she thought Ke was in fact

her husband.

JANUARY 28: Oeu Saly, 39, was sent to a hospital for treatment after Chhouk

Nap, 23, stabbed her with a spear while cooking food at 4:20 pm in Prek Sdor village,

Kampong Chhnang province. Police said Nap stabbed Saly in the chest then ran away.

Police cited revenge as the probable motive. Saly recently filed a complaint with

the court accusing Nap of cursing her during an argument.

JANUARY 28: Khauy Leang Lin, 22, was shot while trying to stop two people

who stole his chickens at midnight in Snai Puol village, Prey Veng province. Khauy

Neang, the victim's father, told police that the thieves shot his son in the leg

with a rifle as his son was trying to stop the thieves from escaping with five chickens.

JANUARY 28: A farmer, Heng Ngaut, 55, was found naked and dead in a rice field

in Prasad village, Kampong Thom province. Chea Poeun, deputy chief of the Technical

Police Office, said the woman was probably abducted while taking her cows to graze,

then raped and murdered. Police suspect four people because a cowboy saw them walking

from that place after the murder.

JANUARY 29: A 30-year-old unidentified man was beaten to death by a mob for

allegedly stealing 13 buffaloes from a couple in Chralang village, Pursat province.

Chhan Chhong, 30, told police that he and the villagers arrested the man then killed

him with axes and knives while he and his other accomplices were trying to bring

the buffaloes in to a nearby forest.

JANUARY 29: Police arrested Mok Sarin, 39, and Pin Tong, 28, after they were

accused of killing Son Chun, 35, in Anchanh Rong village, Kampong Chhnang province.

Police suspect Sarin and Tong killed Chun because Chun's wife said Tong had telephoned

her husband before the murder. Chun was shot while driving a motorbike to see Tong.

JANUARY 30: Police arrested Nou Touch, 25, while trying to escape after robbing

a motorbike taxi driver, Kan Bunthy, 36, at 11:25 am in Sihanoukville. Police said

Touch stabbed Bunthy with a bayonet and then stole his bike. Police sent Bunthy to

hospital for treatment, where he later died from stab wounds to the neck, stomach

and face.

JANUARY 30: Korm Roeun, 44, was arrested after injuring his wife during a

dispute in Kandal village, Kampong Speu province. Police said Roeun was angry, then

picked up a chair and struck his wife on the head, becuase she criticized him after

taking one day off to drink wine with his neighbors during Chinese New Year. Police

said the woman died at hospital two days later.

JANUARY 30: A crowd killed a suspected burglar, Ros Samnang, 36, at midnight

in Sambour Meas village, Battambang province. Buot Sambo, the inspector of Banan

district, said the villagers arrested Samnang as he tried to escape after stealing

some chickens and then chopped him to death with axes and knives. Sambo said Samnang

has been jailed many times for burglary.

JANUARY 30: Deap Ra, 19, was arrested while trying to escape after killing

his stepfather, Seng Sith, 43, as the stepfather attempted to rape his 15-year-old

sister at 5:30 pm in Tumnop Thmey village, Kampong Chh-nang province. Police said

Ra struck Sith several times on the head with a spade then strangled him with a rope.

JANUARY 31: An ethnic Vietnamese man, Nguyen Yaing Deuk, 60, was found dead

in the early morning at a house in Boeng Chhouk village, Phnom Penh. Police said

the man was murdered with an ax while sleeping in a house where he stayed for one

night to guard property for a woman, Khun Sokha, 50. Police suspect revenge was the

motive because nothing had been stolen.

FEBRUARY 1: Police arrested So Nem, 44, after he killed his wife, Ouch Khen,

42, during a family dispute in Trapaing Koh village, Takeo province. Police said

Nem escaped after he axed his wife to death during an argument four days earlier.

A daughter told police that her father was angry and axed her mother three times

in the head after she refused to give him 50,000 riel.

FEBRUARY 1: Anlong Veng district police in Oddar Meanchey province arrested

Kheav Sinuon, 39, and handed her over to municipal police in Prek Leap commune, Phnom

Penh, where she committed a murder the previous year. Police said Sinuon escaped

to Anlong Veng after she killed Than Chandy, 13, then cut off her limbs and dropped

her body into a river.

FEBRUARY 1: Korm Ho, 22, was arrested in Pongra village, Siem Reap province

for the murder of his infant son. Police said the baby died from massive head injuries

after the father picked the baby up by the legs and then swung the child head first

against a dike during an argument with his wife over money.

FEBRUARY 1: Police detained a farmer, Saing Pring, 45, for questioning after

the man's wife, Khem Choeun, 40, accused him of raping their 21-year-old daughter

in O'Kreat village, Battambang province. Choeun told police that Pring had raped

their six-months-pregnant daughter.

FEBRUARY 3: Van Chheng, 51, died at a provincial hospital after being axed

during a nighttime revenge attack in Wat Por village, Kampot province. A witness

said an unknown man chopped Chheng three times in the head as he watched television.

The man then escaped on foot. Police believe an unpaid debt may have prompted the

attack and are continuing their investigation.

FEBRUARY 3: Police are looking for five gangsters involved with the theft

of a mobile phone from a student, Chhiv Kim, 21, at 9:50pm in Srah Chak commune,

Phnom Penh. Kim complained to police that one of the gangsters attacked him from

behind with a sword as he was sitting on his motorbike and speaking on the telephone.

FEBRUARY 4: A 14-year-old girl, Sai Sinan, was knifed to death at 6:20 am

as she worked in a corn field in O'Salla village, Kampong Thom province. Police said

the girl was killed by her uncle, Chhan Pheap, 34, who later died at a hospital after

poisoning himself with insecticide.

FEBRUARY 4: Doeu Pei, 25, and Thorng Sarouth, 22, were shot dead at 10:30

pm while sleeping in a rice field where they guarded crops in Boeng Krasal village,

Battambang province. Buot Sambo, the inspector of Banan district, said Pei was shot

six times and Sarouth was shot seven times with an AK-47. Sambo said police are looking

for a person who had been seen driving a motorbike from the place after the shooting.

FEBRUARY 5: Keo Borey, 57, and his wife, Um Sopheap, 50, were found dead at

7:30 am in Paung Peay village, on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. Police said the couple

were murdered with an ax while sleeping in a field. Police suspect robbery was the

motivation of the killing because $390 had been stolen. Police said the robbery happened

after Sopheap told a neighbor that she planned to celebrate a festival in Prey Veng

province where she was born.

FEBRUARY 5: Chhai Chet, 55, was found dead in the early morning in a rice

field in Kraing Kdey village, Kampong Speu province. Tuy Ton, the inspector of Phnom

Srouch district, said Chet was murdered with an ax while walking home after drinking

wine with some people the previous night. Ton suspected magic may have played a part

in Chhai's death because some neighbors had recently accused him of being a sorcerer.

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

Pheap