Malady and Magic: The Murders of Cambodia’s ‘Black Magic’ Practitioners

As the sun sets above the isolated village of Sre Ken, set in the rugged Oral district of Kampong Speu, the mountains that rise above on all sides fade to a soft purple before disappearing in the night. It was on a dim evening here that Pleng Komsot, whose family says is about 18 years old, is alleged to have murdered his stepfather, Srey Vath.

A provincial deputy police chief confirmed Komsot was arrested two days after the January 10 killing.  The young man now stands accused of premeditated murder after he confessed to hacking at Vath with a knife until his stepfather died, collapsing in the dirt outside a neighboring home. To explain why he’d done such a thing, Komsot accused Vath of being a sorcerer, of using black magic to harm others.

On a recent visit to Sre Ken, reporters from VOD found that many other residents had also believed Vath to be a sorcerer. Even if they felt it, none who spoke with reporters expressed any sympathy for the dead man — not even a former drinking partner, who said he had experienced serious stomach pains that he claimed were due to the effects of one of Vath’s curses.

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