Police in Phnom Penh are searching for three suspects linked to the murder of a 20-year-old man in the early hours of Tuesday morning in Toek La’ak commune, police said yesterday.
A stranger with two accomplices used a knife to repeatedly stab Kim Chan Dara, who was sitting in a park on St 598 near Hun Sen Library and Royal University of Phnom Penh, said Chuon Narin, Phnom Penh municipal serious crime bureau chief. The three suspects offered a bottle of wine to Mr Chan Dara, but when he declined to drink from it, one of the men stabbed him in the stomach, forearm and hand, Mr Narin said.
“The group of three suspects were drunk, and the victim was hacked for refusing to drink…. They fled the scene immediately after the stabbing,” he said. Witnesses reported the incident to police, who arrived at the scene fifteen minutes later and sent Mr Chan Dara to Preah Kossamak Hospital, where he died, he added.
Huot Chan Yarann, Tuol Kork district police chief, said that police have identified three suspects they think were involved in the murder. “We are currently looking for them to make arrests,” Mr Chan Yarann said.
It is believed that one suspect held back Mr Chan Dara’s head while another stabbed him and the other watched, said Bich Sokkhoeurn, Toek La’ak commune chief.
Bun Long, a nurse at Preah Kossamak Hospital, said that Mr Chan Dara’s severe injuries were beyond treatment. “We tried our best to save him, but his wounds were too serious,” Mr Long said.
