The Supreme Court today heard arguments in the appeal of an attempted murder case against disgraced former Phnom Penh Police Chief Heng Pov, who was found guilty of the charge and sentenced to 18 years in prison in 2008.

Pov holds numerous convictions and has been sentenced to a total of 103 years in prison. Yesterday’s appeal was related to the attempted murder of an Electricité du Cambodge worker, Kem Daravuth, in 2005. Previously, the municipal court convicted Pov of ordering the murder of Daravuth, who was shot in the neck and left paralyzed, after the electricity worker cut off the former commander’s power following a series unpaid bills.

Yesterday, Daravuth urged the court to uphold the sentence against Pov, who was at one point a personal security adviser to Prime Minister Hun Sen.

“I've lived with a disability for 12 years already,” Daravuth told the judges yesterday. “I hope that the court will seek justice for me.”

Pov has frequently denied the state’s many accusations of theft and murder, and yesterday maintained his innocence, saying the matter was really about his investigation of a casino that had defrauded the state electricity provider. His defence lawyer, Nou Chantha, said the government’s case lacked evidence and relied on the testimony of Daravuth’s two daughters, who only saw a helmeted man they could not identify shoot their father.

A verdict in the case will be announced on December 6, according to Judge Kem Sathavy.