The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the life sentences of seven men accused of killing of a man in Prey Veng province’s Kampong Trabek district in 2014.
Khim Pun, the presiding judge, dismissed the “excuses” of the defendants and said the evidence proved their guilt.
According to the court, 44-year-old ringleader Nov Ra was drinking with a group of friends when he declared he was going to kill someone that night. He and a friend, Choeuk Thy, later got into an argument with victim Khan Mao, 25, then beat him and drowned him under Tuol Kduoch bridge, according to court records.
Police found that Ra later sold the victim’s motorbike for $300 and had other objects belonging to the victim at his home.
The Prey Veng Provincial Court sentenced Ra, Thy and five other men to life in prison over the murder, noting that Ra’s friends failed to stop the murder or lied to cover it up. Another accomplice, Sok Nhoeun, was sentenced to nine years in prison.
During the Supreme Court trial, which concluded in March, the suspects maintained their innocence through their defence lawyer, Uo Vuth.
