Cheng Kun, convicted over a building collapse in Preah Sihanouk province, leaves the courthouse on June 15. KIM SAROM
The Supreme Court on June 15 upheld the three-year prison sentence of a Chinese man who was convicted in the aftermath of the 2019 collapse of an unfinished building in Preah Sihanouk province, following a June 8 hearing.
Cheng Kun, the building owner, was also ordered to pay between $5,000 and $10,000 compensation to the victims and their families. The collapse killed 22 workers and injured 24.
During the June 8 hearing, defence lawyer Tun Kimhuoy argued that Cheng, 42, had contracted the work to Deng Xin Gui, a contractor, so he should be held accountable.
But according to the case file read out by Judge Kong Darachat in the presence of civil complainants, Cheng had been informed by engineers that the body of the building had deviated 2cm from the original plans, and they had recommended a halt to construction.
Cheng, however, allowed the work to continue. Two more stories were added before the collapse happened. According to officers from the provincial Department of Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction, the building had no construction permits.
“Based on these facts the Supreme Court has upheld the May 6, 2021 decision of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court of Appeal,” said the judge.
One of the civil complainants attending the hearing, Mol Sokhoeurn, a 53-year-old resident of Ang Sophy commune’s Prey Totoeng village in Kampot province’s Kampong Trach district, said that her 27-year-old son Mom Borin was killed in the accident. She was satisfied with the verdict and accepted the compensation.
“I do not know exactly how much the lower court ordered him to pay in compensation. I must ask my lawyer,” she added.
So Mey, a 21-year-old resident of Prey Totoeng village, whose older brother So Samnang, 26 and younger brother, So Pheaktra, 16, died in the accident said outside the courtroom that she was satisfied the higher court had denied the appeal and provided justice to the victims.
“I have not received even a single riel of compensation since it happened,” she said.
The building collapsed in the early hours of June 22, 2019. Police arrested four Chinese nationals, Cheng, the contractor Deng and two supervisors Gao Yu and Xie Ya Ping. All received three year sentences for their parts in the collapse. Cheng was the only one to file an appeal.
