MAN ALLEGEDLY SETS FIRE TO OWN HOUSE

A 26-year-old man allegedly set fire to his own house because his parents refused to give him money, police in Phnom Penh’s Russey Keo district said. The parents reported that the suspect returned home in a visibly foul mood Saturday. He asked his parents for money, but they refused. That’s when he allegedly torched the family home. Luckily, neighbours rushed to the family’s aid and stamped out the blaze before it destroyed everything. The parents said their son was addicted to drugs, jobless and bent on engaging in destructive behaviour. Police have sent the man to court.

DEUM AMPIL

SPIRIT BLAMED FOR STABBING OF BOY

A father allegedly stabbed his 12-year-old son to death Monday after the boy refused to finish his food, police said. The Kampong Cham family was enjoying a meal together, investigators said, when an argument broke out between the boy and his father. The mother said the father cursed the child because the boy did not want to eat rice. That made the boy angry, causing him to flee the dinner table. For some reason, the father followed the boy outside and allegedly stabbed his son to death with a knife. Police said the suspect neither drank nor used violence against his son in the past. But neighbours said they believed that the suspect was influenced by some kind of secret spirit. Police have sent the suspect to hospital.

DEUM AMPIL

MAN GETS NEITHER JUSTICE NOR DESSERT

Police in Phnom Penh’s Tuol Kork district say a 27-year-old university student was robbed at gunpoint Monday while on his way to snack on a tasty dessert near his house. The victim reported that six assailants on three motorbikes used a gun to threaten him just as he was departing to get his dessert. He alerted police immediately, but the suspects managed to escape. Police said they were investigating the case. They also appealed to residents to be careful while driving motorbikes at night because it can be dangerous.

KAMPUCHEA THMEY

ALCOHOL A FACTOR IN DEADLY CRASH: POLICE

One man died and another two were injured in a road accident in Battambang province on Monday. Police said one motorbike crashed into another passing in the opposite direction. They blamed the crash on the dead man, who they said was drunk and slammed his vehicle into the other motorbike. The driver’s family said the man had been drinking wine at the market and drove home drunk. The two injured men on the other motorbike were sent to hospital.

KOH SANTEPHEAP