The wrong kind of shooting

Photo Supplied
30-year-old actress Sveng Socheata receives treatment at a private clinic in Siem Reap after being accidentally shot by a military police officer on Saturday morning.

via CAAI

Sunday, 31 October 2010 19:45 Mom Kunthear

Four people have been arrested and remanded in custody following a dispute in Siem Reap that left two military police officials and film star Sveng Socheata wounded.

Nhem Sila, provincial deputy military police chief, said the arrests were made early on Saturday morning after two officials were injured trying to break up an argument at a pagoda where about 10 people were partying after a day of filming.

He said the officials arrived at the pagoda about midnight, after the owner of film company Seven Productions phoned to report that the party had devolved into a noisy argument.

“We went down there in order to stop their argument, but they did not listen to us,” he said. “They fought us and caused two of our officials to get seriously injured.”

Vo Sophen, one of the military police officials injured in the brawl, said he had been discharged from hospital after receiving stitches for five separate head wounds.

He has filed a complaint to the provincial court demanding US$5,000 in compensation.

He said the owner of the production company had reported the pagoda party to police because he was concerned the noise would disturb monks and other people living nearby.

“When we arrived there we told them stop [the party] and go to take a rest, but they didn’t listen to us and cursed us many times,” he said.

After about half an hour of trying to convince the partying crew to disperse, he said, one man grew tired of the interference and attacked the two officials with a big stick. Others soon joined the fracas.

“We protected our security from their fighting and then we shot into the sky three times to threaten them to stop,” he said.

They only learned later that 30-year-old actress Sveng Socheata had been hit in the arm by one of the bullets.

Bich Savin, the owner of Seven Productions, said that he would consider legal action against Sveng Socheata and friends of hers who attended the party.

“I tried my best to stop them drinking beer and making noise in the pagoda, but they did not listen to me,” he said. “If Sveng Socheata does not say sorry to me for this case I will take measures through the law.”

He said the revellers had “destroyed the honour of his production” and that the incident would delay filming, costing his company up to $7,000.

Sveng Socheata could not be reached for comment.