A former police officer found guilty of shooting and killing a fisherman and wounding two others in Kandal’s Sa’ang district saw his intentional murder sentence reduced from eight years to six after an Appeal Court hearing yesterday.

The officer, Ny Chheurn, was arrested in February 2011. On January 31 that year, he and another officer were patrolling the fishing docks when they spied a group of fishermen using illegal nets. After trying to solicit bribes from the men, who refused to pay, Chheurn shot them. One died from a chest wound while the others were hit in the knee and arm.

At court, Chheurn denied the charges yesterday and insisted he had acted out of self-defence. According to Chheurn, he had fired warning shots into the water and air because the men were charging him and only shot at them when they refused to back off.

“I shot in order to protect myself, because there were many of them and they were armed with electric fishing devices,” he said.