Cambodia saw its second suicide in custody in just over a week on Sunday as a man suspected of fraud hanged himself in the Poipet town jail, according to city police chief Om Sophal.
The death of 46-year-old Van San came just eight days after a man arrested for the rape of a disabled 16-year-old hanged himself in Pursat’s Kandieng district.
Police chief Sophal said San was arrested on Sunday evening in possession of 5,000 Thai baht after being accused of defrauding another man out of 13 million riel (about $3,185).
“We explained that he only had to pay back the money and it is done,” Sophal said. But by 7pm, an hour after he was arrested, San was found hanging from a makeshift noose fashioned out of his trouser leg.
The alleged Pursat rapist had used his scarf the previous Saturday.
Sophal said he will be asking the provincial prosecutor for guidance on what clothes suspects should be allowed to take with them into detention, adding that San’s T-shirt had been confiscated on arrest.
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