The Court of Appeal on Thursday upheld a life sentence meted out on 29-year-old Sorn Pov for murder.

The Battambang provincial court had previously convicted Pov for the 2014 killing in Boeung Raing commune, in Kamrieng district.

Judge Sin Visal said Pov had admitted to killing Ly Sovannarith at his March 18 trial.

“The court has decided to uphold the verdict of the Battambang Provincial Court, but the accused has the right to appeal to the Supreme Court within one month,” he said.

During the original trial, Pov told the judge that he was a drug user and that on April 11, 2014, he and a friend, 28-year-old Sok Chan, met for a drink in Boeung Raing commune.

While drinking, Chan told him to call victim Ly Sovannarith, a moneylender’s son in Kamrieng district, to meet them so they could purchase and use drugs together.

Pov said that when Sovannarith arrived, he and Chan hopped onto Sovannarith’s motorbike so they could go buy drugs. When they reached a quiet place on a dirt road, Chan struck Sovannarith with a stone.

Sovannarith stopped the motorbike to fight back, but Pov held his two hands so Chan could beat him to death with the stone.

The two accused took the money, a necklace and a gold ring, and then dumped Sovannarith’s body in a pond to put the police off their trail.

Pov said if they kept Sovannarith alive, they were afraid they’d get sued by him.

The day after the murder, Pov was arrested by the police in Boeung Raing commune, while Chan escaped.

Pov and Chan were convicted of premeditated murder under Article 200 of the Criminal Code. Chan is still at large