Cambodian judge charged with manslaughter

PHNOM PENH: A Cambodian judge has been arrested and charged with manslaughter after crashing his car into a woman riding a motorcycle, whom he accused as a thief.

Police in the capital’s Sen Sok district charged the Koh Kong provincial court judge after he was detained earlier last week.

District police chief Hour Meng Vang told The Phnom Penh Post that judge Kong Khemara had crashed his car into 30-year-old Say Kimny’s motorcycle on the Phnom Penh-Hanoi road in the Sen Sok district.

After completing investigations, police decided to file a case of unintentional manslaughter and charged him in the Phnom Penh municipal court.

The police chief said Khemara claimed Kimny stole his wallet containing almost US$10,000 in cash while he was walking into a barbershop in the capital city.

Khemara said he followed her in his car as she rode away on her motorcycle.

He claims to have swerved to avoid hitting a car in front of him but it caused him to crash into Kimny’s motorbike.

Meng Vang said Kimny was a resident of the Khmuonh commune in Sen Sok district and her body had been handed over to her family for final rites.

Khemara’s sports utility vehicle and Kimny’s motorcycle have been taken to the district police station pending the court case.

Ministry of Justice secretary Kim Santepheap said that in principle, people had the right to detain someone who stole from them so that they could send the perpetrator to the police for investigations and legal proceedings.

But victims of theft cannot use violence that causes injury or death to a suspect or perpetrator.

Santepheap said the public often got confused as to who was to blame in car-motorcycle accidents.