The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday sentenced 23-year-old Sun Kimheng to life in prison after finding her guilty of the premeditated murder of a 19-year-old woman she had met on Facebook.
Presiding Judge Suos Sam Ath said that Ms. Kimheng alone was responsible for the kidnapping and murder of Lim Sreypich in October, despite her having implicated three other people in the plot.
“Under Article 200 [of the criminal code], the court sentences Ms. Kimheng to life imprisonment and orders her to pay $28,000 in compensation to the plaintiff for the premeditated murder of Lim Sreypich,” Judge Sam Ath said, adding that the court had rejected Ms. Kimheng’s testimony implicating others in the murder.
The victim’s father, Lim Ingsor, has consistently said that he believes more than one person was involved in his daughter’s murder, claiming in October that high-ranking, powerful people were behind the killing—a belief he reiterated Monday.
“I know that police arrested three other people but said they were not involved in this case,” he said. “There must have been more involved. I can’t believe that one woman could commit this crime all alone.”
During their investigation of the murder last year, police said that Ms. Kimheng had met Lim Sreypich through Facebook and that the pair had discussed setting up a clothing business together.
On October 23, Lim Sreypich visited Ms. Kimheng at her home to discuss the project but was instead strangled with rope until unconscious and driven to Kong Pisei district in Kompong Speu province where her body was dumped in a pond.
Ms. Kimheng then phoned the parents of Lim Sreypich—who did not know that their daughter was already dead—telling them Lim Sreypich had been kidnapped and demanded a $16,000 ransom for her safe return.
The following day, at the agreed rendezvous on Monivong Boulevard, police arrested Ms. Kimheng along with three others, who were never identified.
