MAY 5: Um Sok, 64, was arrested for raping a 15-year-old girl during a robbery

the previous night in Khvar village, Phnom Penh. Police said Sok and his three accomplices

entered the girl's house, aimed a handgun at her family, took her into a room, then

raped her after binding her parents' arms.

MAY 5: Seng Leakena took her boyfriend, Vin Sing, 30, to a provincial hospital

after he was shot during a nighttime robbery while they were driving home on a motorbike

in Kampong Svay village, Banteay Meanchey province. Leakena told police two robbers

on a motorbike blocked Sing's path and shot him in the neck with a handgun, then

one of the robbers stole the motorbike and escaped.

MAY 5: Police arrested a construction worker, Van Vith, 27, after he injured

his seven-month-old baby son during a family argument in Kbal Spean village, Banteay

Meanchey province. Police said the arrest came after a complaint by Vith's wife,

Soeun Nang. She said Vith, while drunk, picked his son up by the legs then hit him

against the wooden house wall.

MAY 6: Arth Rith, 25, was sent to a hospital for treatment after Vong Nhean,

26, chopped him with an ax in Rong village, Takeo province. Police said Nhean came

upon Rith having sex with his wife, Seng Vannak, 22, and struck him six times with

the ax. Vannak said she is filing a complaint asking police to arrest her husband

because Rith did nothing wrong; he just came to visit her.

MAY 6: All but one of a group of gangsters escaped after killing a woman,

Nan Sarun, 40, during a dancing argument at midnight in Kok Til village, Kandal province.

A witness said one of the gangsters stabbed Sarun in the neck with a bayonet because

she tried to stop them arguing with three other teenagers. Police arrived and arrested

one gangster, Varth Seth, 18.

MAY 7: A house fire killed a nine-year-old boy at 6:20am in Prey Pravas village,

Kandal province. The boy's mother, Choeun Phally, 37, a grocery shop owner, was taken

to Preah Kossamak hospital for treatment in Phnom Penh. Phally's husband, Kep Phan,

said the fire happened while his wife was transferring gasoline from one can to another

for sale. The gasoline poured downstairs into the kitchen.

MAY 7: A farmer, Uch Sophal, 32, was robbed of jewelry while watching television

at night in Rokar village, Dangkor district, Phnom Penh. Sophal told police two robbers

forced open the front door of her house and threatened to kill her with a gun, then

escaped with one damleung (37.5g) of gold.

MAY 7: One of two suspected robbers, Choeun Van, 24, was arrested by a crowd

who later handed him to police after they beat him nearly to death at 8:30pm in Sleng

Roling village, Phnom Penh. A bystander said the suspects tried to escape after robbing

a motorbike taxi driver. Police took Van handcuffed to Preah Kossamak hospital for

treatment.

MAY 8: A car driver, Chim Ponlak, was sentenced to four months in prison in

Phnom Penh Court after being convicted of stealing a mobile phone belonging to Brigadier

General Moung Khim, who is the director of the criminal police department in the

Ministry of Interior. Ponlak told the court that while working as Khim's driver he

took a broken phone from Khim's car and had it repaired at a telephone shop. He said

the court case arose after he had a little problem with Khim's wife, Meng Keo Pichchinda,

a popular singer.

MAY 8: Burn Khly, 38, was found dead at 7:30pm in Chomna village, Kampong

Thom province. Police said Khly was murdered by having his throat cut with a heavy

knife while he was walking home from a wine shop where he had been drinking with

some people in the early evening. Police suspect the killing was prompted by recent

accusations that Khly was a sorcerer.

MAY 8: Police arrested a mango seller, Phal Pheang, 35, after she stabbed

a security guard, Din Sarith, 23, in the chest with a knife during an argument in

front of a garment factory on National Road 2 in Prek Talong village, Phnom Penh.

A bystander told police Pheang was angry because Sarith screamed at her after she

refused to pay him a 200 riel fee for her selling place.

MAY 9: Pang Sopheap, 23, was arrested while trying to escape after he raped

a 10-year-old girl at 2:30pm in Boeng village, Kandal province. The girl told police

Sopheap raped her when she went to a toilet behind her house.

MAY 10: American citizen Leonard John Edward, 65, was found dead in the morning

at his shop, Tom's Irish Pub, in Boeng Keng Kang 1 commune, Phnom Penh. The preliminary

police report said Leonard probably died of a heart attack. Police said Leonard was

married to a Cambodian woman, Chea Sokha, 50, who is now visiting America.

MAY 11: The Provincial Court sentenced two people to 15 years in prison for

a murder in Tum Or village, Kampong Thom province. Judge Ly Kuy named the convicted

pair as Ke Pon, 39, and Chum Nhep, 20. Kuy said Pon and Nhep were arrested on November

15, 2005, after killing Routh Vorn, 55, with a stick, accusing him of being a sorcerer.

MAY 11: Ek Lon, a deputy inspector in Mouk Kampoul district in Kandal province,

was sent to Calmette Hospital for treatment after being knifed during a robbery while

riding a motorbike in Prek Leap commune, Phnom Penh. Lon said an unknown man called

to him to stop then chopped him in the arm with a cleaver and escaped on his bike.

MAY 12: Khay Pisith, 16, a student at Tuol Prasard high school, was shot and

wounded in a nighttime robbery while riding home on a motorbike in Teuk Laak 1 commune,

Phnom Penh. Pisith said at Preah Kossamak hospital that two unknown men on a motorbike

blocked his path and shot him twice in the thigh with a K-54 handgun then escaped

empty-handed when police arrived.

MAY 12: A 22-year-old man, Thea, was found murdered at 8:15pm in Kamakor village,

Battambang province. Police said Thea had his throat cut with a heavy knife. Police

suspect that four unknown men who had been seen leaving the scene were Thea's killers.

MAY 12: Man Sokhon, 43, was found dead at 6:11am in her house in Santech Kandal

Village, Kampong Cham province. Police said Sokhon, the mother of four children who

was separated from her husband two months ago, was murdered with a stick and strangled

with rope the previous night.

MAY 13: Rom Sokroeun, 24, was knifed to death while catching crabs in the

early morning at a shrimp lot in Ong village, Sihanoukville. Rom Sokha said Men Mor,

29, killed his son [Sokroeun] with a heavy knife because he accused him of stealing

his shrimps. Mor escaped, but police confiscated an AK-47 from his house.

MAY 13: Koy Noeu, 57, wife of a village chief, was found dead at 10pm in Chamnoat

Ram village, Sihanoukville. The village chief, Van Kan, said his wife was tortured

then strangled while walking home from finding her son at a nearby video shop. Kan

said his wife had never argued with anyone.

MAY 14: A 61-year-old woman, Poeu Sim, and her son, Noeu Sambath, 26, were

killed by lightning during an afternoon rainstorm in Phneay village, Kampong Speu

province. Police said Sim and Sambath were struck and died instantly while working

on their farmland.

MAY 14: Soth Poeu, 34, was arrested for a rape he committed two years ago

in Slar Khlanh village, Battambang province. Police said Poeu had escaped after raping

a 56-year-old woman.

MAY 14: Kouy Ponlak, 28, was shot dead during a robbery at 5am while carrying

his wife on a motorbike in Chrap Krasaing village, Battambang province. His wife

told police three people blocked her husband's path and shot him once in the chest

with a K-54 handgun then escaped on his bike.

MAY 15: Lightning killed Tuy Heng, 47, and her daughter Tuy Sreyleak, 12,

during an afternoon rainstorm while they were planting crops on farmland in Hong

Prama village, Kampong Cham province. Police said lightning also killed three other

people in Stung Trang district, Kampong Cham province.

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

Pheap