A suspected drug addict on Thursday confessed to hitting an Irish tourist in the head with an ax in Phnom Penh’s Daun Penh district on Wednesday night after becoming agitated when the foreigner winked at him, police said.
Deputy district police chief Khun Nguon said Phillip Schimmin, 26, had been walking with several friends through Wat Botum park at about 11:30 p.m. when Doeb Ngol, 21, approached them from the shadow of the Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Monument and attacked the Irishman, striking him twice in the head with an ax.
Mr. Schimmin was immediately rushed to the hospital with minor head injuries and is recovering, Mr. Nguon said, refusing to explain why the injuries were not more serious.
“The ambulance took the injured tourist to Calmette Hospital and half an hour later, our police arrested the suspect,” he said, adding that police believed Mr. Ngol was a drug addict.
According to Mr. Nguon, Mr. Ngol said he attacked the tourist because he had winked at him.
He added that police still had not found the ax used in the attack and planned to send Mr. Ngol to court Friday.
