Couple Convicted of Coffee Shop Prostitution

[geovalin]

A couple living with HIV was yesterday convicted by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court and given a reduced seven-year sentence for offering prostitution services inside their coffee shop in the capital’s Meanchey district last year. Phnom Penh Municipal Court presiding judge Heng Sokna said the couple, dual Cambodian-Vietnamese nationals Duong Lim, 60, and his wife Pham Thi Hyeu, 39, were the bosses at Nath Chuob Knea coffee shop in Thnoat Chroum village in Meanchey’s Boeng Tumpon commune.

“Because the two accused are living with HIV/AIDS, the court decided to sentence them to seven years, but the term of their punishments will be reduced to only five years. The rest of their sentences will be suspended,” he said. “The court orders them to jointly pay a total of 10 million riel [about $2,500] to five victims in this case,” he added.

Judge Sokna emphasized that they were charged by the municipal court’s prosecutor with “procurement of prostitution with aggravating circumstances” under articles 284 and 288 of the Penal Code. Ms. Hyeu had also been arrested and convicted of “procurement of prostitution” by the municipal court in 2013, the judge added. She was sentenced to one year in prison and released in 2014.

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