Thai man sentenced for killing girlfriend

FRIDAY, 06 AUGUST 2010 15:02
By: CHRANN CHAMROEUN
Phnompenhpost

Sarisi Boon Sry is led into Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday. The Thai national was found guilty of killing his girlfriend and given an 11-year prison term.(Photo by: Pha Lina)

PHNOM Penh Municipal Court yesterday convicted a Thai man of killing his girlfriend last year at a guesthouse in Daun Penhdistrict, sentencing him to 11 years in jail and ordering him to pay 30 million riels (US$7,109) in compensation to the victim’s family.

Sarisi Boon Sry, 37, was arrested on October 12 from a construction site after being accused of strangling a Cambodian woman, 22-year-old Voeun Srey Mao, a day earlier at the Ly Hour Guesthouse. According to a police note, the victim’s father, Ho Voeu, requested that the accused be prosecuted and asked for $25,000 in compensation.

Deputy prosecutor Koeur Bunnara said yesterday that the verdict was acceptable.

“The sentence of 11 years for the Thai man really gives justice to the victim,” he said.

But after the verdict was handed down, defence lawyer Touch Chhay described the sentence as “an injustice” for his client.

“There was a lack of evidence, and it was only based on a doctoral examination of the killing,” he said.

“I raised this in the last hearing. If the victim was killed by strangling, there must have been fighting and other rooms in the guesthouse must have heard the struggle.”