The son of a high-ranking customs official and his bodyguard were handed prison sentences last week over a March shooting at Phnom Penh’s Rock nightclub that left one man injured, court officials said Wednesday.
Keo Vitou, the 24-year-old son of Keo Sokheang, who heads the Finance Ministry’s mobile inspections unit, was convicted by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court with illegal weapons use and sentenced to eight months in prison and ordered to pay a $500 fine.
His bodyguard, Rin Chanthoeun, was convicted of illegal weapons use and intentionally causing damage, received a two-year sentence and a $1,000 fine.
“The reason [Mr. Vitou] got only eight months in jail was because no witness saw him shooting,” said Veng Hourt, a municipal court judge.
At around 2 a.m. on March 15, some 30 rounds were fired during an argument at Rock before Mr. Vitou’s group drove away.
In a search of Mr. Vitou’s home later that day, police seized an AK-47 assault rifle.
Mr. Chanthoeun was arrested four days after the incident and confessed to being the lone shooter, police said.
