Cambodian women stabbedWed, Jul. 18, 2007
By JULIE SHAW
shawj@phillynews.com 215-854-2592
Philadelphia Daily News (Pennsylvania, USA)
Sambo Nou, 21, of South Philadelphia, allegedly admitted to police that he was "going crazy" and "couldn't stop stabbing" two Cambodian immigrant women in their apartment in April after an argument over money.
Nou knew one of the women: Soy Taing, 47, a friend of his mother's. He did not know the other woman, Taing's roommate, Nimol Tep, 40.
Police said that in his statement, Nou said he went to Taing's apartment on 7th Street, near Jackson, South Philadelphia, about 5 p.m. April 25 to pick up a phone bill.
Taing, whom he called "Zoe," was cooking. Nou, of Jackson Street, near 4th, got two phone bills from her, and also asked if he could borrow $500.
"She said no. . . . She was insulting me," Nou's statement said. "She said I was always broke."
The two started arguing and "that's when she got the knife and started swinging it, and I got cut in my right hand," he said in the statement.
Nou then allegedly grabbed the knife, and "I stabbed her in the stomach, then she fell," his statement said.
"I was starting to lose it a little bit . . . going crazy just stabbing and stabbing," his statement said. According to a question by homicide detectives in the statement, Nou put a "slicing cut" in Taing's neck and throat.
In the statement, Nou said Tep came out of the bathroom and threw a pot or pan at him and came toward him. Nou then allegedly said that's when he started stabbing Tep.
But the knife "wasn't cutting her real good," he allegedly said. When asked to explain, he allegedly said, "It just felt like it was bending" and "It wouldn't go through her."
He then allegedly spotted a serrated knife in the kitchen, grabbed it, and continued.
"I was standing over her," his statement said. "I was just bending down stabbing her over and over. I felt like I just couldn't stop stabbing her."
When he finished, Nou said he took a gold-chain necklace from Taing's room and a gold chain from Tep's neck.
"That's all I could find," his statement said.
Nou allegedly told police that he needed the $500 because he was short on money to make a payment on a house closing. And he needed the phone bill to show that he didn't have any outstanding bills.
Prosecutor Ed Cameron told the court that a medical examiner determined that Taing had more than 10 slash-and-stab wounds; Tep more than 15.
Municipal Judge Felice Rowley Stack held Nou for trial on charges of two counts of first-degree murder, robbery and possession of an instrument of crime.
Cameron said after the hearing that the landline phones in the victims' apartment had been listed in Nou's name.
The bills, which had been paid, were each for about $25, he said.
During the hearing, Nou, in a white, long-sleeved shirt, looked down at the defense table or at the detective who read the statement. He did not show much emotion and did not look back in the gallery at his girlfriend or family members.
The victims' family members were not in court. One of Tep's brothers, Sunheang Tep, 52, of Rochester, N.Y., had previously said that his sister entered the United States legally in 2005.
She first lived with another brother in Connecticut before moving to Philadelphia two months before her death.
She thought she could earn more money here and liked South Philly's Cambodian community, he said.
In Cambodia, the family had survived the "killing fields," a period in the late-'70s when an estimated 2 million people died from starvation and disease or were executed during the rule of Khmer Rouge dictator Pol Pot.
Nou knew one of the women: Soy Taing, 47, a friend of his mother's. He did not know the other woman, Taing's roommate, Nimol Tep, 40.
Police said that in his statement, Nou said he went to Taing's apartment on 7th Street, near Jackson, South Philadelphia, about 5 p.m. April 25 to pick up a phone bill.
Taing, whom he called "Zoe," was cooking. Nou, of Jackson Street, near 4th, got two phone bills from her, and also asked if he could borrow $500.
"She said no. . . . She was insulting me," Nou's statement said. "She said I was always broke."
The two started arguing and "that's when she got the knife and started swinging it, and I got cut in my right hand," he said in the statement.
Nou then allegedly grabbed the knife, and "I stabbed her in the stomach, then she fell," his statement said.
"I was starting to lose it a little bit . . . going crazy just stabbing and stabbing," his statement said. According to a question by homicide detectives in the statement, Nou put a "slicing cut" in Taing's neck and throat.
In the statement, Nou said Tep came out of the bathroom and threw a pot or pan at him and came toward him. Nou then allegedly said that's when he started stabbing Tep.
But the knife "wasn't cutting her real good," he allegedly said. When asked to explain, he allegedly said, "It just felt like it was bending" and "It wouldn't go through her."
He then allegedly spotted a serrated knife in the kitchen, grabbed it, and continued.
"I was standing over her," his statement said. "I was just bending down stabbing her over and over. I felt like I just couldn't stop stabbing her."
When he finished, Nou said he took a gold-chain necklace from Taing's room and a gold chain from Tep's neck.
"That's all I could find," his statement said.
Nou allegedly told police that he needed the $500 because he was short on money to make a payment on a house closing. And he needed the phone bill to show that he didn't have any outstanding bills.
Prosecutor Ed Cameron told the court that a medical examiner determined that Taing had more than 10 slash-and-stab wounds; Tep more than 15.
Municipal Judge Felice Rowley Stack held Nou for trial on charges of two counts of first-degree murder, robbery and possession of an instrument of crime.
Cameron said after the hearing that the landline phones in the victims' apartment had been listed in Nou's name.
The bills, which had been paid, were each for about $25, he said.
During the hearing, Nou, in a white, long-sleeved shirt, looked down at the defense table or at the detective who read the statement. He did not show much emotion and did not look back in the gallery at his girlfriend or family members.
The victims' family members were not in court. One of Tep's brothers, Sunheang Tep, 52, of Rochester, N.Y., had previously said that his sister entered the United States legally in 2005.
She first lived with another brother in Connecticut before moving to Philadelphia two months before her death.
She thought she could earn more money here and liked South Philly's Cambodian community, he said.
In Cambodia, the family had survived the "killing fields," a period in the late-'70s when an estimated 2 million people died from starvation and disease or were executed during the rule of Khmer Rouge dictator Pol Pot.
4 comments:
I think KI Media is doing its community a disservice by publishing this article (and similar one in the past) about a Cambodian-American committing a crime in the U. S. This could have been anyone from another ethnic group - this happens all the time. People kill people for the most mundane things. This is not typical for Cambodians but for mankind in general. By publishing these articles from the U. S. press KI-Media insinuates that this is a typical Khmer behavior. Thus speaks a Barang.
Well 9:28 pm.... please do not fear this kind of publicity. It is our community true story. KI does the right thing to share this news with others. We should know what is wrong with our life. We must know...
This is freedom of press. All news should be heard. It reflects the true in the community of which we live. Hopefully all our readers can learn something that commit violence don't pay. Peace everyone!
ACCEPT THE NEWS, KNOW WHO WE ARE AS A RACE A COMMUNITY?
FACT OF LIFE!
THANK YOU KI, FOR VARIETY OF NEWS RELATED TO CAMBODIA!
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