Violence begets violence

A mob of 500 villagers beat a man to death in Kampong Cham province yesterday after he allegedly slaughtered his wife and stepdaughter with a pair of scythes and reportedly taunted the assembled crowd with his wife’s severed hand.

Police said Laing Pises, 48, used the scythes to partially dismember his wife, Sek Thou, and stepdaughter, 20-year-old Muon Chenda, a university student who returned from studying in Phnom Penh on Sunday to the family home in Prey Chor district’s Thmor Poun commune. …

Police attempted to coax Pises from the wooden house, he added, but Pises responded by severing his wife’s hand and displaying it to the assembled crowd.

The crowd, which had swelled to about 500 villagers at this point, began pelting the house with rocks in reply, knocking Pises to the floor. The 30 police officers then at the scene stood back as several villagers rushed up the stairs and began to beat him. …

The motive for the initial slayings of the two women may never be revealed, police said, adding that Pises was thought by locals to have been possessed by spirits in the past, suggesting he may have suffered from mental illness. …

The extrajudicial killing that followed the two women’s murders was the latest in a series of attacks involving enraged mobs in recent years that have seen no prosecutions brought against the perpetrators, rights groups said. …

 Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/violence-begets-violence