A man who was sentenced by the Preah Vihear provincial court in April to 13 years behind bars for murdering two men last year pleaded with the Appeal court on Monday to reduce his prison terms.

During his trial, Nop Siv, 38, admitted to fatally shooting two men on April 10 last year in Cheb district’s Senke II commune following a heated argument at a drinking party.

At around 8:30pm, Siv and his crew were arguing with another group of six men who dared them to fight with bare hands. Siv went home and returned with a gun loaded with five bullets.

When he shot randomly to scare his opponents, some of the bullets hit two teenagers aged 17 to 18.

They succumbed to their injuries soon after being admitted to hospital.

Sentenced on April 5 to 13 years in prison on murder charges under Article 199 of the Criminal Code, Siv was also ordered to pay compensation of eight million riel ($2,000) to each victim’s family.