Three former soldiers who were charged in 2012 over the triple murder of a mango plantation owner and two if his staff had their final appeal against their prison sentences turned down by the Supreme Court yesterday.
 
Seng Bora, 51, Dorn Meng, 34, and Sok Sieb, 51, were tried by the Oddar Meanchey Provincial Court for the 2011 murder of a mango plantation owner in Trapaing Prasath district, with the Appeal Court upholding the verdict in 2013.
 
Presiding judge Soeung Panhavuth said the court had agreed with the decisions of the lower courts.
 
Mr. Bora was sentenced to life imprisonment for the three premeditated murders, while Mr. Meng and Mr. Sieb received 30-year prison terms as accomplices. The trio was also ordered to jointly pay 10 million riel (about $2,500) to the families of the three victims.
 
After losing the initial appeal in 2013, defendant Mr. Sieb appealed to the Supreme Court and he has maintained his innocence of the murder charge throughout the hearings.
 
During last week’s hearing, he admitted to knowing of the intention of his co-defendants to confront the plantation owner, but said he had merely driven them there on his motorcycle and had left before the murders took place. However, judge Panhavuth said Mr. Sieb, in addition to driving the pair to the plantation, had given them his AK-47 rifle, and a hand grenade, and was therefore clearly implicated in the murder.
 
As he left the courtroom, a visibly angry Mr. Sieb called the verdict an “injustice.”
 
“It is a huge injustice. I did not commit the crime or was involved with this case but the court has sentenced me to 30 years.”