The British owner of a Phnom Penh bar was charged with debauchery and sent to Prey Sar prison on Saturday, Phnom Penh Municipal Court Chief Chev Keng said Sunday.
Matthew Richard Edge, 46, owner of the Slippery Sam bar on street 102 in Daun Penh district’s Wat Phnom commune, was arrested at his bar on March 21, said Keo Thea, deputy chief of the municipal anti-trafficking police department.
Police raided the Slippery Sam bar following a complaint filed by Edge’s estranged Cambodian wife, who alleged that he had tried to force her to have sex with his friend in the bar on two occasions, Keo Thea said.
Edge then allegedly threw his wife, Sok Sokhon, 23, out after she refused to have sex with his friend, and she subsequently filed a complaint with police, he said.
“We confiscated 15 discs of pornography, a plastic battery-operated penis, one plastic bag of marijuana and a video camera with footage of [Edge] and his Khmer wife having sex,” Keo Thea alleged.
“We sent all this to the court on Saturday,” he said.
Keo Thea added that five women who worked at the bar were present at the time of the police raid.
Chev Keng said Sunday that he and the municipal court’s chief prosecutor, Ouk Savouth, had decided to charge Edge with debauchery and had sent him on Saturday to Prey Sar prison for detention pending trial.
Article seven of the Law on Suppression of Kidnapping, Trafficking and Exploitation of Humans defines debauchery as the opening of a place for committing debauchery or obscene acts, which carries a penalty of one to five years in prison and up to $7,500 in fines.
