A 36-year-old scavenger accused of stealing under $30 of car equipment died after three days in police custody in Phnom Penh, as the family alleges violence but police and an autopsy say the death was caused by a chronic illness.
Hay Bunna, 36, a scavenger living with his family in Andoung III village in Prek Pnov district’s Kok Roka commune, was arrested on August 25 alongside two others on suspicion of stealing car equipment costing 100,000-120,000 riel, his sister Hay Channy said on Tuesday.
Channy said she went to the commune police station that evening to bring him food, but he had already been moved to district police. She went to the district station the next day, but was asked for money if she wanted to see him, she alleged.
“On the morning of the 26th, I went to the district and brought some food for him. When I arrived, I asked to meet my brother and they asked me in response if I had money for coffee,” she said.
“I’m very poor. I answered honestly that I don’t have any, and then I heard a police officer say one of the suspect’s arms was hurt.” Channy wondered who among the three suspects had been hurt, but all she could do was leave the food for her brother, she said.
The next afternoon, Channy went back to the Prek Pnov police station with her mother.
“I was standing there waiting for a while, then I heard a scream, ‘Help, help.’” She said she asked the police for permission to see her brother but officers told her to wait again and again.
After some time, four people carried Bunna out, she said. Her mother got down on her knees to beg the police to let her be with Bunna, but officers didn’t let her touch him, she said.
“The police sent him to the [district] referral hospital, then the doctor asked to send him to Lok Song hospital,” she said, referring to the Preah Kossamak Hospital. After five days there, then two nights at the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital, Bunna died on September 3. The official cause of death was kidney failure.
She was distraught that no one, including police, was paying any attention to his death, alleging that her brother’s corpse looked like it had scars.
Officers told her that Bunna had been shaking in custody possibly due to alcohol withdrawal, she said.
“The police said my brother is an alcoholic. I feel unsettled with this reason they provided — the shaking and the scars, it doesn’t make sense,” she said. “My brother’s death is an injustice. No one cares. No one acknowledges it at all.”
She added that she did not know how — nor did she have the resources — to file an official complaint.
Chin Kemthuy, Prek Pnov’s district police chief, denied there was any violence against Bunna.
“No, there’s no torture. We do our jobs according to the procedures. He had his own disease,” Kemthuy said.
“There are no scars visible like they alleged. There’s no reason to hit people till they die like that,” he said, adding that surveillance cameras showed Bunna shaking before being sent to hospital.
“Now we’re preparing to make a clarification for the public about our officers in order to prevent confusion,” Kemthuy said.
According to the autopsy report, provided by the family, Bunna died of kidney failure at 7 p.m. on September 3 at the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital. A Health Ministry official and police officer were part of the autopsy team, it says.
