A married couple and their 16-month-old granddaughter died on Wednesday after incurring serious head injuries in an apparent roadside robbery in Kompong Cham province, police said.
The couple, Eng Meng Kry, 48, and his wife, Dorn Chantha, 45, were found lying dead in a pool of blood on the side of the road in Kompong Cham City’s Pongro commune, while their granddaughter, Ra Kanhna, lay injured beside them.
The whimpers of the injured girl alerted villagers to the grisly scene at around 3 p.m., commune police chief Thou Sambath said. The grandparents had received so many blows to the head that their jaws were broken and they were nearly decapitated.
“They died in a pool of their own blood,” Mr. Sambath said.
The child, who had been hit in the face with a club, also had a broken jaw, as well as other serious injuries, and was brought to the provincial hospital, but she was so badly hurt that she was immediately transferred to Kantha Bopha Hospital in Phnom Penh. She died shortly after arriving there on Wednesday evening.
The family had been traveling by motorcycle at the time of the attack, returning home from a visit in Koh Sotin district. When their bodies were found, their motorcycle was nowhere to be seen, and 500,000 riel (about $125) was missing from Dorn Chantha’s pocket, leading police to conclude that the triple murder had been sparked by a robbery.
“We have concluded that the victims were robbed and killed between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m.,” said Mr. Sambath, adding that they had left their relative’s home at around 11 a.m.
Ma Chanda, police chief of Koh Sotin district, said police found a bloody club at the scene of the crime, and that they suspect that between two and four perpetrators were involved in the murder.
“We are still investigating and searching for the perpetrators,” he said.
