A villager in Oddar Meanchey province yesterday accused a deputy military commander to whom he owed money of beating and threatening to shoot him, a claim flatly denied by the official in question.

Phon Mab, 40, a small-time logger, claimed Sun Bora, Trapaing Prasat district deputy commander of Division 5, punched and slapped him in the head six times while he and three friends were drinking at a neighbour’s house on Sunday afternoon. Mab acknowledged owing Bora 600,000 riel (about $150), though Bora pegged the debt at 1 million riel (about $250).

“In a drunken state, [Sun Bora] walked towards me and said that he wanted to beat me in exchange for the money I owed him,” Mab said. “He beat and slapped me while he was talking . . . He said ‘I want to shoot’, but he was intercepted by his soldiers and some villagers tried to stop him and told me to escape.”

Bora yesterday admitted he was drunk but said he only hit Mab “playfully”, causing Mab to fall and hit his head on a wooden post.

Un Rim, O’Svay commune police chief, said the pair had settled the case – which he chalked up to irresponsible drinking – and it would not proceed to court.