MARRIAGE PRESSURE LEADS TO SUICIDE

A 19-year-old high school student in Pursat province’s Kravanh district killed herself on Monday by consuming “poisonous drugs”, police said, a move that those who knew her said had probably come in response to unrelenting pressure from her mother to find a husband. Relatives and neighbours said the student was angry with her mother, who had urged her daughter to wed and also accused her of being “strange”. On the day she committed suicide, she stayed in her room alone and ingested the drugs. Her mother found her and sent her to hospital, but efforts to revive her were unsuccessful.

RASMEY KAMPUCHEA

CATCH PROVES FATAL FOR POOR FISHERMAN

A 41-year-old resident of Kandal province’s Kandal Stung district died on Monday after consuming poisonous fish, police said. The wife of the victim said he had been particularly happy that day because he had caught a large number of fish, which he hoped would lift his family out of poverty. But the catch proved to be fatal, and the wife discovered her husband’s dead body after returning from selling some of the fish at the local market. No other poisoning casualties have been reported, police said.

DEUM AMPIL

FISHERMAN VICTIM OF HIS OWN EQUIPMENT

A 23-year-old fisherman in Sen Sok district died at the hands of his illegal fishing device on Monday, police said. The man had often used the device – which had an electric charge and was meant to be plunged into water to electrocute fish – with success, but on this particular occasion he fell in after it, suffering injuries that later killed him. Other fishermen, who were also making use of illegal fishing devices, turned them off when they saw the man fall in and tried to help him, but he did not reach the hospital in time.

RASMEY KAMPUCHEA

CAR-SEEKING COUPLE ROBBED IN TUOL KORK

A married couple from Pailin province who had travelled to the capital in the hope of buying a new car were robbed at gunpoint by four masked boys in Tuol Kork district on Tuesday and lost US$10,000. Police said the couple had been searching for a new car for a few days but had not found anything to their liking. They were robbed while standing in front of a market.

DEUM AMPIL

DRUG ADDICTION FUELS PHONE THEFT

Two alleged drug addicts have been sent to Phnom Penh Municipal Court on suspicion of stealing a “modern mobile phone” to support their habit, police said. The men have admitted their crime.

DEUM AMPIL