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