The July 2 attack against actress and former TV host Ek Socheata, better known as Sasa, has prompted a national conversation about justice in the Southeast Asian country, where the wealthy often act with impunity and buy their way out of trouble.
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Violence against women is commonplace in Cambodia but public exposure of this attack has sparked outrage.
The Cambodia Daily on Saturday quoted the Ministry of Interior’s penal police department director Sok Khemarin as saying that Bun was arrested at Phnom Penh global Airport after flying back in from Singapore, where he had claimed he needed medical treatment.
In the grainy 60 seconds of CCTV footage, the tycoon is seen throwing an actress off a leather couch at a Japanese restaurant in Phnom Penh. Bun could face up to five years in prison for the violent assault.
The 37-year-old property magnate had pleaded guilty and was now being detained in Prey Sar prison, awaiting trial.
“Don’t think that because you have money you can escape”, Hun Sen said in comments directed at Sok Bun earlier this week, the Associated Press reported.
On Thursday Prime Minister Hun Sen joined calls for Sok Bun to face justice, asking the tycoon to hand himself in to police.
In an interview with AFP on Thursday, Sa Sa said the argument began when Sok Bun made drunken and unwanted advances toward a Japanese friend of hers.
“He used his boots to step on my body and head, he kicked me and he used his boots to stomp on my face and nose”, the 28-year-old said.
SaSa then obtained the video from the restaurant and posted it on her Facebook page.
“Not only did this lead to authorities taking action; it also generated a significant amount of discussion about violence against women – an important issue to address as Cambodia works towards reaching its full potential”. “His beating was not to scare me, he was trying to kill me”.
Sasa told reporters outside the court on Friday she had not asked for compensation, but she said she wants her attacker to be brought to court.
Real-estate tycoon Sok Bun was imprisoned on charges of intentional violence on Saturday over the savage assault of a female television personality earlier this month, footage of which went viral on social media days after the attack.
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SaSa told AFP that the sum was later raised to US$200,000, but she had not decided whether to accept it. – AFP, July 18, 2015.
