A Cambodian court sentenced a Spanish man to 10 years in jail for murder even after a state prosecutor and police testified that the supposed “victim” wasn’t slain.
The Phnom Penh Post reported Thursday that Ricardo Blundell Perez, 40, was convicted yesterday for killing British friend, John Peter Connell, whose decomposed body was found in Perez' apartment in the capital in July 2013. The Spaniard was arrested Aug 11 last year.
Ricardo Blundell Perez (Facebook)
But Pol Lt Loeuk Um, who examined the body, told the court Nov 28 that Connell, in fact, died of a drug overdose and was not murdered.
Perez admitted to hiding the body for weeks in his apartment because he was scared of being arrested on either murder or immigration charges, as he was in the country illegally.
At the end of the trial, deputy court prosecutor Um Sopheak urged judge Chuon Soreasy to change the charge to "hiding a body," but the judge said he thought Perez was lying about only hiding the corpse and found him guilty of "intentional murder."
"For this case, the court has considered that the accused, Blundell Perez Ricardo, was really involved in the death of the victim," the paper quoted the judge as saying.
Perez said he would appeal next week.