A reptile attack was the last straw for a Phnom Penh family locked in a land dispute who sought legal intervention yesterday.

Ly Siev Minh, 22, said that her family filed a two-page complaint letter to Phnom Penh Municipal Court, almost a week after being woken by a bag of vipers that was lobbed into their living room.

“We [are] suing an unidentified Khun Sear [Import Export Company] staff member for attempting to kill us intentionally,” she said. The courts accepted the complaint only after the company’s name was removed from the document, according to Sia Phearum, secretariat director of the Housing Rights Task Force.

Managed by Lieutenant General Yim Leang – the son of Deputy Prime Minister Yim Chhay Ly – the Khun Sear Import Export company is vying with some residents in Tuol Kork’s Boeung Kak 1 commune for their land.

Khun Sear Import Export could not be reached.