Lover’s murder masquerading as suicide

CAMBODIA – JANUARY 26, 2018 The case that shook the whole of Cambodia in 2018. The deceased was a 36-year-old employee of the National Party, Jev Sovathana. Police were called to the scene in the evening when her body was discovered hanging from a curtain rod in the garden bungalow where she often stayed. A note was left next to the body that she had killed herself because of a failed love affair. The photos of her dead body were leaked on social media and started to spread massively among people. They began to notice various ambiguities in the photos, and the whole matter began to be solved by the media and journalists, who called on the police to solve the case more thoroughly.

However, the woman’s story was much sadder than just a failed romance. The initiated police investigation brought several new discoveries. It was revealed that she had been having an affair with the provincial governor, Lay Vannak, for several years. He was married, she was divorced. His wife’s family helped him secure a political position, so the affair was kept in the highest degree of secrecy.

However, the governor wanted to get rid of his lover and had already tried to break up with her several times in the past. The first time a woman swallowed pills with the intention of killing herself. However, the governor’s personal driver took her to the hospital under a false identity, where her stomach was pumped out. However, the next time he tried to break up with her, the woman chose a new tactic. She threatened to reveal their affair to his wife.

These threats finally made the governor get rid of the woman. He arranged to meet her at her bungalow, where they often met for sex. But when he came, he had his brother, Lay Narith, with him, who was the chief police commissioner in the province. It was never revealed if they came with the intention of killing her or if they only wanted to threaten her. However, a big argument broke out.

The woman was violently thrown onto the bed. The governor put his hand around her neck and began to strangle her. However, he soon found out that killing someone is not as easy as in the movie. He had to be helped by his brother, who put a pillow over the woman’s face. The woman suffocated like this for a long time before she died.

The men decided to disguise the murder as a suicide. Unfortunately for them, they didn’t think it through enough. They hung her body on a curtain rod and wrote a farewell letter. The medical examiners also confirmed that the woman died a violent death. Both were convicted of murder. The governor received 13 years in prison and his brother 10 years. The driver, Men Samai, was also sentenced to two years in prison.