A MOB of university students and passing moto-dops beat a man to death after he was

discovered stealing a motorbike from the parking lot at the Technological Institute

on Pochentong Road.

Police said between 50 and 100 people took part in the beating, on Wednesday, June

28, between 2 and 4pm. Witnesses said the victim was still alive when the police

arrived at the parking lot, but nobody did anything to help him. Tuol Kork Police

Inspector Kim Huon denied this.

"We got a call alerting us to the accident at 3pm and were at the institute

15 minutes later. By then, the thief was already dead," said Huon.

The Tuol Kork police station is only a few minutes away from the institute.

One witness gave a different account:

"When the police arrived, the thief was still alive and many of the moto-dops

were still throwing stones at him. The police took no action to try to stop the moto-dops,"

said the witness.

Nobody from the crowd has been arrested or questioned, and Huon said it would be

impossible for the police to find out who killed the thief.

"The crowd was too big. There were many people throwing stones at the thief,

and we cannot find out who are responsible," he said.

Instead of investigating the case he said he had contacted the director of the institute

and asked him to educate his students that they must not take part in this kind of

mob beating.

The director of the Technological Institute, Fernand Texier, could not be reached

for comment.