While popular singer Pov Panhapich remains confined to a Vietnamese hospital bed after being shot in Phnom Penh last month, police may have identified at least one of her alleged assailants, an official said Thursday.
Police have arrested four men around Cambodia for possessing illegal weapons since the 23-year-old singer and television host was shot on Norodom Boulevard, and at least one of them may be a suspect, Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said.
An eyewitness has identified at least one of the men, but police have yet to come to any definitive conclusions, Khieu Sopheak said.
“Maybe one or two of them will be related [to the shooting],” he said. He declined to name the four but said they were arrested in locations including Battambang province and Phnom Penh.
Pov Panhapich was shot once in the neck and once in the hip by a young man on the back of a motorcycle on the morning of Feb 23, police and a witness said.
The four men were all arrested in the following days and are being detained in Phnom Penh’s Prey Sar prison, Khieu Sopheak said.
The singer’s family has told police that a young man had quarreled with Pov Panhapich after she did not return his romantic affections, he said, though he declined to provide further details.
Pov Chan Sotheavy, Pov Panhapich’s sister, said she was unaware that arrests had been made. But she confirmed that an unidentified young man had been in love with her sister and became angry when he was rejected.
“He tried to annoy her by using his motorbike to play or fly around the singer’s car,” she said.
Pov Panhapich has a limited range of movement, though her condition is improving, Pov Chan Sotheavy said.
“She stays in bed. Both her legs can move but are weak…. Both hands are able to move because doctors ask her to [exercise] with a small ball to strengthen them,” Pov Chan Sotheavy said, adding that doctors have removed the respirator from her mouth.
“The singer was asked not to talk so much, as the doctors still have [kept] a splint around her neck,” Pov Chan Sotheavy said. “So far, we have spent over $10,000 for her treatment.”
Doctors have told the family that Pov Panhapich will be able to leave intensive care soon if her condition continues to improve, her sister added.
When Pov Panhapich recovers and returns to Cambodia, police will ask her to identify the shooter, Khieu Sopheak said.
(Additional reporting by Elizabeth Tomei.)
