News
Acid Attack Victim in Danger of Losing Sight
From the Cambodia Daily. Written by Khuon Narim and Alice Foster.
Kompong Cham Provincial Court on Sunday charged a teenager with attempted murder for allegedly dousing a woman in acid in the early hours of Thursday morning, an official said yesterday.
Pov Kolab, 19, arrested on the day of the attack, is now in detention at the provincial prison, said provincial prosecutor Huot Vuthy.
Meanwhile, Kong Touch, 52, her head and upper body swathed in bandages, has been receiving treatment at Phnom Penh’s Children’s Surgical Center, where she underwent a blood transfusion yesterday.
Doctors were trying to save Ms. Touch’s sight, said a nurse at the hospital, speaking on condition of anonymity. “For her right eye, it looks 99 percent gone,” he said. “For her left eye, we are not sure we can save it.”
More than 20 percent of her body was covered in burns, he said. “We thought [the acid] was very strong, because it caused third-degree burns.”
Ms. Touch had surgery Friday and yesterday to remove burned skin and tissue, he added.
Sann Mary, 25, who stood by her injured mother’s bedside yesterday, said revenge was the motivation for the attack. “I ask court officials to sentence the perpetrator to life in prison,” she said.
Murder and attempted murder carry the same penalties under the law, said Sok Sam Oeun, executive director of the Cambodian Defenders Project.
Unpremeditated murder is punishable by 10 to 15 years in jail, while premeditated murder is punishable by life in prison.
A committee at the National Assembly is studying a draft law that would hand down life sentences to the worst acid attackers and regulate the handling of acid, said CPP lawmaker Cheam Yeap. The draft law will be up for debate and adoption at the beginning of the plenary session in October, Mr. Yeap said.
“This latest attack further highlights the necessity for practical and effective legislation in order to curb the phenomenon of acid violence in Cambodia,” said Ziad Samman, project manager at the Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity, noting that it marked the 10th attack of the year.
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The Cambodian Acid Survivors Charity (CASC) is ASTI’s partner in Cambodia. They are offering support and medical treatment to Ms. Kong Touch through their sister organisation, the Children’s Medical Center.
To learn more about CASC, visit their homepage.
To learn more about acid violence in Cambodia, see this article.
Posted on September 23rd 2011 by Office in ASTI news
