A deaf man was arrested on Saturday night in Tbong Khmum province for stabbing a 12-year-old girl to death with a metal file and seriously injuring her 13-year-old friend after the two girls collided with his motorbike and did not have money to pay him compensation, local police said.
The man, Sman Vy, 26, collided with a motorbike being driven by the 13-year-old girl, Ran Phally, along a narrow dirt road in Dambe district’s Seda commune, according to district police chief Hong Kim Hoeun.
“There was a narrow and sandy road, so it was hard to avoid each other when they were driving in opposite directions,” Mr. Kim Hoeun said.
After the crash, he added, “the girl tried to use her hands to communicate with the deaf man, but he did not listen and got very angry when the girl called her family to help her, so he took a metal file and stabbed her many times and also stabbed the other girl.”
Phally was badly injured in the attack, while her 12-year-old friend Tin Lany, who had been riding pillion, died of her stab wounds on the way to the provincial referral hospital, Seda commune police chief You Touch said.
One of the girls had called her family for help as the situation escalated, with Mr. Vy becoming enraged that they did not have enough money to compensate him for the accident, Mr. Touch said. The family then alerted local police, who reached the scene soon after the stabbing and arrested the suspect a few hours later, he added.
According to provincial police chief Mao Pov, Mr. Vy “had just recently divorced his wife and he had a bad temper and was aggressive,” leading him to react badly to the girls’ inability to compensate him.
Phally is currently being treated for her injuries at the provincial hospital, while Mr. Vy, who was held at the district police station Sunday, is scheduled to be transferred to the provincial police headquarters today for further questioning, Mr. Touch said.
