The Court of Appeal yesterday affirmed the 18-year jail sentences imposed on former Phnom Penh police chief Heng Pov and a former associate in the 2005 attempted murder of a state utility worker.
Appellate judges on April 30 heard defense arguments that there was insufficient evidence for the 2008 conviction, in which Phnom Penh Municipal Court found that as chief of police Heng Pov had ordered subordinates Hang Vuthy and Oum Samkheng to shoot Kim Daravuth, an employee of Electricite du Cambodge, over an electricity bill dispute.
Though Hang Vuthy reportedly disappeared after escaping from Prey Sar prison in 2006, he, Heng Pov and Oum Samkheng were also ordered to pay $800,000 in compensation to Mr Daravuth, who was left paralyzed from the neck down after the attack.
“The compensation and prison term are kept the same as before,” Presiding Judge Chuon Sun Leng announced, adding that he had instructed officials at Prey Sar prison not to bring the two convicts to court in order to economize on gasoline.
“Don’t waste time for transportation,” Judge Sun Leng said he had told prison guards. Convicted on a host of gangsterism charges including kidnapping and murder, Heng Pov is currently serving a prison term that stretches to almost 100 years.
Vong Nilina, Mr Daravuth’s wife, said outside the courtroom at the Justice Ministry yesterday that the court’s punishment had not fit the crime.
“The compensation is not suitable for the treatment of my husband’s serious injuries,” she said.
Reached by telephone after the ruling, Kao Soupha, defense lawyer for Heng Pov, said his client had acted to satisfy unnamed powerful persons.
“If they want to know whether my client has had justice, please let the government send one or all of Heng Pov’s cases to be heard at a court abroad, such as a Singaporean or a French court, so we will know justice,” he said.
He had yet to consult with Heng Pov on whether to appeal the conviction to the Supreme Court.
