Police are treating the death of a man found hanging in a holding cell at the Kompong Cham provincial police station on Thursday morning as a likely suicide.
Buy Kim Heng, chief of the provincial police’s scientific and technical bureau, said on Thursday that 53-year-old Chun Meng Hak, who was being held over a reported incident of domestic violence, was found hanging from a makeshift rope attached to his cell’s window bar made from his torn boxer shorts.
“He was found dead at around 6:30 a.m.,” he said. “It is believed that he committed suicide when police assembled to sing the National Anthem in the morning.”
He had been brought to the provincial police station on Wednesday, he added, and was scheduled to be sent to court to face charges on the morning his body was found.
Chun Meng Hak, a rice farmer, was arrested at the home he shared with his extended family in Prey Chhor district’s Chrey Vien commune on Monday, according to Uy Man, district police chief.
“He was arrested around 1:15 p.m….by district police after his wife came to the police station to report domestic violence,” he said. “Before the arrest, he was drunk and tried to attack his wife with a wooden chair, but was stopped by his grandson.”
