Police in Banteay Meanchey province on Thursday accused an unidentified Thai villager of shooting and then beating to death a Cambodian teenager from Poipet commune.
Chhouk Ang, chief of the Poipet border police battalion, said the Thai villager shot Khorn Bin, 16, in the leg and then beat him to death with a rifle butt at 9:30 am Saturday after accusing him of stealing a chicken, just across the border from Prey Kub village in Thailand’s Sa Kaeo province. Thai villagers also allegedly shot another young villager, Siev Phearak, 16, in the leg, though he was able to hide and survived, Chhouk Ang said.
The two Cambodian teenagers were working as day laborers in Thailand, Chhouk Ang said.
Ing Songyou, O’Chrou district police chief, called on Thai officials to find Khorn Bin’s killer and bring him to justice. “They must not shoot Cambodians,” he said, adding that if the victim had really broken the law, he should have been arrested rather than shot.
The perpetrator should also pay compensation to his victim’s family, he said. Songchai Chaipatiyut, first secretary for the Thai Embassy, said Thursday that Thai authorities in Sa Kaeo province had received no reports that the shootings had occurred.
