Cambodian tycoon gets light jail sentence for attack on female TV star

Sok Bun’s savage beating of presenter known as Sasa caused outrage after video of assault was posted online

Cambodian TV star known as Sasa tells of the attack by tycoon Sok Bun

 The Guardian | 15 February 2016

A Cambodian property tycoon whose savage beating of a female TV presenter was captured on video will be a free man in four months, a court has ruled.

The Phnom Penh municipal court judge Sor Lina sentenced Sok Bun to three years in prison but suspended all but 10 months. After counting time already served he is left with four months of prison time. 

Cambodian tycoon attack victim: 'I cannot accept what he did to me'

The video taken at a Phnom Penh nightclub last July showed Sok repeatedly punching and kicking Ek Socheatha in the head for about a minute as his bodyguard pointed a gun at her. Ek said she had been trying to stop Sok taking advantage of her friend who was too intoxicated to defend herself.

“My client said she wanted the case to end at this time, so she will not appeal the verdict,” said Ek’s lawyer, Puth Theavy. “She is accepting the verdict and said it is fair for her.”

Ek, popularly known as Sasa, last month withdrew the most severe complaint of attempted murder. The Phnom Penh Post and Cambodia Daily newspapers reported that she accepted out-of-court brokered compensation from Sok, although she would not confirm this.

The case was well-known largely because the video was widely shared online, and because Cambodia’s richest and better-connected people often escape justice.

Even the prime minister, Hun Sen, weighed in on the case last year, criticising Sok before he turned himself in. “Don’t think that because you have money you can escape,” he said. “What you have done is intolerable.”