The Appeal Court on Monday upheld the 25-year sentence handed down to a man who threw a grenade into a Kampot province wedding in 2012, killing a 65-year-old woman and injuring 10 other guests.
The appellant was not present to hear Presiding Judge Chan Madina read out the verdict.
“After deliberation, the council of the Appeal Court has ruled to uphold the verdict of the Kampot provincial court,” the judge said.
Nuon Touch, now 45 and a former general planning office head at the Ministry of Interior, had been divorced by his wife before the incident occurred, the court report states.
On December 8, 2012, while attending a wedding in Phnom Trel village, in Angkor Chey district’s Phnom Kong commune, he threw a grenade into the crowd. The explosion killed Ly Chreang, 65, the adoptive mother of his ex-wife, and injured 10 other guests.
At the original hearing, he told the court that he threw the grenade as he was angry with his ex-wife for divorcing him. He said she had prevented him from seeing his 12-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son.
The Kampot provincial court on May 27, 2014 sentenced Touch to 25 years in prison for “premeditated murder” under Article 200 of the Criminal Code.
