Tycoon Sok Bun sentenced for brutal attack

Tycoon Sok Bun sentenced for brutal attack

Mon, 15 February 2016 ppp

Niem Chheng and Brent Crane

Former real estate tycoon Sok Bun, who was today sentenced for assaulting TV personality Ek Socheata, poses for a photo next to an architectural model last year. Photo supplied

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Sok Bun, the real estate tycoon whose savage beating of TV personality Ek Socheata was caught on camera in July, was today sentenced to 3 years in jail, with all but 10 months of that suspended.

Phnom Penh Municipal Court judge Sor Lina also ordered the multimillionaire – who thanks to time served will now be free in about three months – to pay a fine of $1,500, a thousand less than what was possible under the charges.

Socheata’s co-lawyer, Lin Lanin, declined to comment on the sentence but acknowledged that an extrajudicial deal had been reached between her client and her attacker.

“I know there has been a deal but I cannot tell you what,” she said over the phone today. Socheata directed all questions to Lanin.

Late last month, Socheata unexpectedly announced in a letter that she had dropped her charges against Bun without explanation. The media personality better known as Ms Sasa had previously been highly vocal in condemning Bun.

Socheata’s father Uth Thy, a tycoon in his own right who had taken a leading role in the case, said today over the phone that his daughter had received “about $100,000” in compensation from Bun in an extrajudicial deal.

Thy had mixed feelings about the sentence, expressing frustration that Bun had spent much of his jail time thus far receiving treatment in hospital, while also expressing joy that the tycoon had seen jail time at all.

“At least he experienced being in jail, even if for only 10 days. At least a tycoon went to jail,” he said.

Ros Sopheap, executive director of Gender and Development for Cambodia, expressed disbelief at the “ridiculous” sentence.

“I would like to see Sok Bun stay for his entire 3-year sentence,” said Sopheap, who believed that the case set a poor example for perpetrators of violence against women.

“If the justice system in Cambodia is like this, who can trust the justice system in Cambodia? No one,” she added.