The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a verdict sentencing one man to life in prison and two others to 15 years behind bars for the 2014 kidnapping and murder of a 25-year-old man found dead in a Kompong Speu province quarry.
The day Heng Piseth went missing, his parents—owners of a bakery chain in Kandal province—paid kidnappers a fifth of a $500,000 ransom demand.
His bound and gagged body was found a week later.
A monthslong investigation linked the crime to Seng Chanthy, who was sentenced to life in prison for premeditated murder, while In Raksmey and Seng Sok were convicted as accomplices.
The latter two were initially given one-year sentences, but the Court of Appeal overturned a lower court’s decision and gave them 15-year terms, while maintaining Mr. Chanthy’s life sentence.
Supreme Court Presiding Judge Kem Sothavy said on Wednesday that she would uphold the three sentences.
Speaking outside the court, Mr. Chanthy decried the decision.
“I wasn’t involved…. I never knew the victim’s family—they just charged me,” he said.
