Lawmaker’s Alleged Attacker To Appear in Court

The security guard arrested for beating CPP lawmaker Chin Kim Sreng over the head with a steel pipe on Sunday night is scheduled to be questioned by Phnom Penh Municipal Court today, police said.

Ros Sovann, 28, reportedly confessed to attacking the parliamentarian, saying he had been seeking revenge for a long-running land dispute in Meanchey district in­­volving local authorities who he ac­cused of stealing his family’s land 11 years ago, district police reported.

Ou Pov, penal police officer in charge of security in Chamkar Mon district, said case documents were forwarded to municipal police headquarters on Tuesday, and that Ros Sovann is scheduled for questioning at the court today.

Ros Sovann’s mother said on Monday that her son had shown signs of mental illness in recent months, particularly since his wedding plans had been put on hold until his family’s land dispute was solved as they had no money to pay for the celebration.

Asked whether the suspect’s mental health had been taken into consideration, Chamkar Mon district police chief Ouch Sokhorn said authorities already “have a full confession.”

Chin Kim Sreng is being treated at Calmette Hospital and was able to talk by telephone on Tuesday with his wife.

Nan Sina, 39, a nighttime security guard next door to Chin Kim Sreng house on Street 71 in Boeng Keng Kang I commune, said by telephone Tuesday that he had witnessed the incident Sun­­day night.

At around 11:30 pm, he heard sev­eral banging sounds followed by a loud crash coming from the lawmaker’s house. He peered through the fence, into the lawmaker’s compound, and saw the lawmaker lying on the ground.

Nan Sina said he asked Ros So­vann what was going on and Ros Sovann replied that he was feeling feverish and then got into the lawmaker’s car and began crashing it.

Nan Sina said he called his su­per­visors at Protek Cambodia Sec­urity Co, where Ros Sovann also worked, and his boss came to take Ros Sovann to the police.

Protek manager Vong Sova­tha­na said Tuesday that Ros So­vann had only been working with Pro­tek for around three months on a pro­bationary status.

He said the attack was the result of a personal dispute, and declined to elaborate.

Chin Kim Sreng’s wife, who asked not to be named, said she heard yelling and cursing outside her home on Sunday night and by the time she arrived outside, her hus­band was on the ground outside the front door.

A half-meter wide bloodstain was still visible on the cement outside her door on Tuesday afternoon.

She said that Ros Sovann was hired as a guard by a foreigner who rented part of their house for about a month and that he had seemed quite normal.

She added that she couldn’t think of a reason why he attacked her husband but suspected that he crashed her husband’s luxury SUV sev­eral times while trying to drive the car out of their compound.

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