Thursday, February 23, 2006

RIP Dave Ginger Monkey

A British bar owner was stabbed to death by an 18-year-old youth during an apparent botched robbery in the Cambodian capital, police and neighbours said on Wednesday.

The youth, a street kid called Tong Chen, was arrested in a park as he cleaned blood off his knife after stabbing David Mitchell, from Walsall, five times in the chest, police investigator Neang Sopheap said.

New Zealand journalist Jane Nye, who worked as managing editor of Cambodian Scene magazine and who had been staying in the same house, sustained injuries to her neck, hands and head and was evacuated to Thailand for medical treatment.

"The boy could have climbed up the wall to steal their property but woke them up," Neang Sopheap said after a preliminary investigation of the scene, which still had pools of blood on the floor.

Chhum Sara, who lived next door to Mitchell's Ginger Monkey bar -- a favourite hang-out for Phnom Penh expatriates and tourists -- said she heard Nye screaming "Help me! Help me!", adding that she feared her friend might die of blood loss.

Under Cambodian law, Tong Chen could face life imprisonment if found guilty of murdering Mitchell, who had been running the Ginger Monkey for several years.

1 comment:

HamandaSmik said...

Dear Darren,

My thoughts are very much with all of you guys out there who knew Dave and of course With his family and his girfriend. Unecessary. Infuriating and tragic. You're right Dave was never without a massive grin - I'll remember him like that

Rest in Peace
x