Police in Takeo province are searching for a farmer who beat a 60-year-old man to death on Monday after an argument that started when the victim demanded the return of his ducks that had joined a flock belonging to the suspect, officials said Tuesday.
“The suspect used a stick to beat the victim until he died, and then fled the scene,” said Hang Vey, chief of Bati district’s Champei commune, where the attack took place.
Khun Samoeun, chief of the district police’s penal bureau, said the two men—who had both set up temporary shelters on unused rice fields surrounding a lake in the commune—had been driving the birds through the area on Monday evening when some of the victim’s ducks joined the suspect’s flock and heated words were exchanged.
When the victim, Yim Sarorn, marched to the suspect’s shelter to ask for his ducks back, the suspect beat him to death, possibly with the help of another man, Mr. Samoeun said.
“The victim was found near the suspect’s [shelter] and the back of his head was swollen and there were some bruises on his chest,” he said. District police chief Ngan Sary said that as many as four people may have been involved in the deadly beating.
He added that the main suspect had been identified by police, but refused to name him.
