Takeo provincial criminal police referred three men to the provincial court on June 23 for stabbing a man to death over a volleyball dispute on June 19 in Komar Reachea commune’s Khnar Tong village of Bati district.

Provincial serious crimes bureau chief Sem Socheat said the suspects, aged 18 to 21, and the victim, 27, were all residents of Khnar Tong village.

Deputy district police chief Khuth Lo told The Post on June 23 that the suspects were arrested on June 22.

«The suspects were the actual perpetrators. They admitted to stabbing the victim over volleyball,» he said.

According to Lo, the suspects on June 19 played volleyball with Khemarak and had a verbal dispute with him, but did not physically fight.

At around 10pm on the same day, the three suspects went the victim’s house and stabbed him to death with a knife.

On the morning of June 20, police learned that one of the suspects had fled to Battambang province’s Rukhak Kiri district. However, he knew police were searching for him, so he fled again before being arrested in Bati district.

Police then ordered the man to contact his accomplices who were hiding in a forest in Phnom Tamao in Bati district and arrested them there.