A 32-year-old man was arrested early yesterday morning in Phnom Penh’s Tuol Kok district after stabbing a man to death following an argument over payment to a sex worker, police said.
Soeung Samnang, a blacksmith, was arrested at about 5 am on Street 273, after using a sharpened steel object to fatally stab the unidentified victim in the back, said Boeng Kak 1 commune police chief Horm Kea. The victim had allegedly slapped the sex worker in the face when she failed to give him the correct change after sex. Mr Samnang then attacked and stabbed him, Mr Kea said.
“Because the victim was seriously injured, he died in the hospital,” said Mr Kea, adding that the victim had not been carrying identification at the time and police do not know who he is.
“The suspect already confessed to his guilt,” he said, adding that the sex worker had fled the scene before police arrived.
In a separate murder case in Tuol Kok district early Sunday morning, police arrested two suspects after a man was beaten to death at a restaurant in Toek La’ak II commune while talking with a waitress, authorities said.
According to commune chief Seng Sarun, a group of eight men attacked 24-year-old Chim Chanthet after they became jealous of the man’s conversation with the woman.
“They killed him using broken glass bottles, plates and chairs,” he said, adding that the incident occurred at about 1 am at a restaurant along Street 261.
He said some of the suspects were able to flee from the scene, but one man, 21-year-old Meach Sith, was too drunk and could not escape before police arrived. Another suspect, Khom Chantra, 27, was arrested at about 10 am the next morning.
Commune police chief Lay Sok Hoeun said both of the arrested suspects were car mechanics who lived in Toek La’ak II commune.
“I am investigating this case and also searching to arrest the other suspects involved in the killing,” he added.
