A sugarcane plantation owner was arrested on Saturday morning for trying to poison his neighbors by pouring pesticide into the family’s well in Kompong Cham province, police said on Sunday.
The plantation owner, Kea Tru, 27, had repeatedly caused trouble for the family, said deputy Chamkar Loeu district police chief An Kimsry.
“The suspect was angry with the victim’s family for filing complaints against him many times for entering their land through a fence again and again without a specific purpose or sometimes taking their clothes and throwing them away,” he said.
Finally, on Friday night, “after drinking wine with his friends at a small shop…he had the bad idea.”
On Saturday morning, the family’s 9-year-old son smelled poison and suffered a headache when he got a whiff of the family’s drinking water, Mr. Kimsry said, prompting his father to inform police.
District police chief Ith Dara said Mr. Tru was arrested at about 10 a.m. at his home in Cheyou commune and detained at the provincial police headquarters, though he declined to say what evidence police had linking him to the crime.
