FIGHT FOLLOWS PORRIDGE RIVALRY

A porridge seller at a Phnom Penh market was attacked with stones after a competing porridge seller ordered a hit on the victim. The victim sustained head injuries following the incident last Thursday at Phsar Deum Kor in Tuol Kork district. Police said the alleged attacker confessed that he did not know the victim but was hired by another porridge seller to do the deed.

RASMEY KAMPUCHEA

ACCUSED RAPIST PLEADS IGNORANT

A man in Battambang province admits he tried to rape a woman in his village but insists he didn’t realise it was a crime. Police say the man’s alleged victim thwarted the attempted rape when she shouted for help. Police intervened when the victim’s parents filed a complaint Thursday in Battambang’s Bavel district. The man confessed that he intended to rape the victim, but said he didn’t actually touch her.

RASMEY KAMPUCHEA

FROM THEOLOGIAN TO SUSPECTED THUG

A former monk who was defrocked just 12 days ago is now on the run from the law after becoming the prime suspect in an ax attack in Battambang province. The monk is alleged to have swung an ax at a man Friday following an argument. Village witnesses told police the man was “very cruel”. Police said the suspect was out for revenge after the latter turned him in for allegedly pilfering perfume from a nun. The former monk is now in hiding, police said.

KOH SANTEPHEAP

MAN CHOPPED BY AX IN PURSAT RICE FIELD

A man in Pursat province was severely injured after he was struck four times with an ax. It happened Thursday in Pursat’s Krakor district. Police said the man was working in a rice field when the attack happened, but it is unclear how the confrontation began. Police, who are hunting for two attackers, said it is possible the pair intended to kill the victim.

KAMPUCHEA THMEY

FOREIGNER DIES; ILL HEART BLAMED

A Swiss national who was about to set off for the airport died on Saturday following morning coffee in a Phnom Penh hotel, police said. The 61-year-old man had just sipped from a cup of java and was preparing to leave a Daun Penh hotel when he fainted, staff told police. A cleaner told police the man asked to be taken to the hospital after his heart became “unwell”. He later died at the hospital. The man’s body is being kept until an autopsy can be performed, officials said.

KAMPUCHEA THMEY