Police in Svay Rieng province said Wednesday that they were still searching for one of two men suspected in a violent attack on an elderly commune chief that stemmed from a drunken fight on Saturday.
Svay Chrum district police chief Pin An said that Ros Chandorn, a grandson of Thloak commune chief Hem Ven, 71, had been drinking at a friend’s house on Saturday night when he got into an argument with two other guests, brothers In Men, 22, and In Mon, 25.
The police chief said he did not know what prompted the argument, which led Mr. Men to attack Mr. Chandorn with a bamboo pole, after which the two brothers drove home.
“Mr. Chandorn then called his mother to tell her about the attack, and then his mother called her father, the commune chief, to tell him that his grandson had been beaten,” he said.
“Hem Ven then called the commune police to ask them to bring Mr. Men and Mr. Mon to the police station. But the police were busy patrolling, so the commune chief asked his [brother-in-law], Louv Vireak…to go to Mr. Mon and Mr. Men’s house with him,” he added.
Once the pair arrived at the brothers’ house, the police chief said, Mr. Vireak punched Mr. Men, prompting Mr. Mon to attack both Mr. Vireak and Mr. Ven with another bamboo pole.
Mr. An said the commune chief suffered a fractured skull and a broken jaw and was sent to Vietnam for treatment. He said Mr. Men was arrested that night, but that Mr. Mon had fled and remains at large.
Pen Mony, deputy chief of the provincial police’s penal bureau, said Mr. Men was sent to the provincial court on Sunday.
“The court charged Mr. Men with intentional violence with aggravating circumstances,” he said.
Court officials could not be reached to confirm the charge.
