08/10/2007
By Jessie Mangaliman and Sean Webby
Mercury News (San Jose, California, USA)
Officials from the San Jose Police Officer's Association presented an $11,000 check this morning to the relatives of Sany San, a 46-year-old San Jose resident who was allegedly slain after being beaten, sexually assaulted, then stabbed by two homeless men last month.
"I'm moved and happy that people care," said San's aunt, Sokhim Sann, accepting the donation on behalf of her sister, Muykeh Him, 64, the victim's mother who lives in western Cambodia.
In addition to the checks, police association President Bobby Lopez also handed Sann dozens of handwritten notes - many scribbled on cards and Post-Its - which accompanied the donations that were collected through the group. Lopez said donations ranged from $5 to $100.
One note on an index card said, "I wish I can afford to give more."
Another card said, "My deepest sorrow for your loss."
Sann, moved by the presentation at the doorstep of her East San Jose home, clutched the stack of notes and cards to her chest, fighting tears.
Her 26-year-old son, Dararith Kim, a marketing manager, said "We don't know where we would be if people had not helped us. It's just overwhelming for me and my mother and we can't say enough thank yous to everyone who helped."
Hundreds attended the memorial service for San on July 28.
Sann and Kim said the money will be wired to San's ailing mother, and two siblings - a sister, Sochiata Him, 30, and a brother, Chancoma Him, 28 - who live in a decrepit farmhouse in Battambang, in western Cambodia. The siblings are seasonal farm workers. The money will pay for health care for San's mother, and improvements to the farmhouse, Kim said.
San, a seamstress, emigrated from Cambodia four years ago to make a better living for her impoverished family. Her dream, Kim said, was to save enough money to help her family pay for home improvements.
San witnessed and survived the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia, under a regime where 3 million people were killed in the 1970s. Her family, like many in Cambodia, endured great hardships, starvation and death in the regime's forced-labor camps. San's father and four siblings died during the Khmer Rouge rule, which ended in 1979.
On the early Sunday morning of July 22, San was walking from her aunt's house in East San Jose, on her way to catch a bus to her job at a doughnut shop near Palo Alto. According to police, two men approached her with the intension of robbing her. The men then beat and dragged her behind bushes, raped her, then stabbed her repeatedly, leaving her to die, police said.
Two suspects are in custody, awaiting a hearing on charges of kidnapping, murder and rape.
"This is one of the most violent and senseless crimes we've seen in years," Lopez said. "People care very much about what happened."
For that reason the officers' association chose to collect money for San's family, Lopez said. The union, which represents city officers, has raised more than $100,000 for victims of crime in the city since 2006.
The Santa Clara County Victim Witness Assistance Center also pitched in $7,500 for funeral expenses.
Contact Jessie Mangaliman at jmangaliman@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5794.
"I'm moved and happy that people care," said San's aunt, Sokhim Sann, accepting the donation on behalf of her sister, Muykeh Him, 64, the victim's mother who lives in western Cambodia.
In addition to the checks, police association President Bobby Lopez also handed Sann dozens of handwritten notes - many scribbled on cards and Post-Its - which accompanied the donations that were collected through the group. Lopez said donations ranged from $5 to $100.
One note on an index card said, "I wish I can afford to give more."
Another card said, "My deepest sorrow for your loss."
Sann, moved by the presentation at the doorstep of her East San Jose home, clutched the stack of notes and cards to her chest, fighting tears.
Her 26-year-old son, Dararith Kim, a marketing manager, said "We don't know where we would be if people had not helped us. It's just overwhelming for me and my mother and we can't say enough thank yous to everyone who helped."
Hundreds attended the memorial service for San on July 28.
Sann and Kim said the money will be wired to San's ailing mother, and two siblings - a sister, Sochiata Him, 30, and a brother, Chancoma Him, 28 - who live in a decrepit farmhouse in Battambang, in western Cambodia. The siblings are seasonal farm workers. The money will pay for health care for San's mother, and improvements to the farmhouse, Kim said.
San, a seamstress, emigrated from Cambodia four years ago to make a better living for her impoverished family. Her dream, Kim said, was to save enough money to help her family pay for home improvements.
San witnessed and survived the Khmer Rouge genocide in Cambodia, under a regime where 3 million people were killed in the 1970s. Her family, like many in Cambodia, endured great hardships, starvation and death in the regime's forced-labor camps. San's father and four siblings died during the Khmer Rouge rule, which ended in 1979.
On the early Sunday morning of July 22, San was walking from her aunt's house in East San Jose, on her way to catch a bus to her job at a doughnut shop near Palo Alto. According to police, two men approached her with the intension of robbing her. The men then beat and dragged her behind bushes, raped her, then stabbed her repeatedly, leaving her to die, police said.
Two suspects are in custody, awaiting a hearing on charges of kidnapping, murder and rape.
"This is one of the most violent and senseless crimes we've seen in years," Lopez said. "People care very much about what happened."
For that reason the officers' association chose to collect money for San's family, Lopez said. The union, which represents city officers, has raised more than $100,000 for victims of crime in the city since 2006.
The Santa Clara County Victim Witness Assistance Center also pitched in $7,500 for funeral expenses.
Contact Jessie Mangaliman at jmangaliman@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5794.
2 comments:
Aw...I love the San Jose police for caring so much for this little unknown Khmer woman. God bless all of you.
This is so wonderful. Many thanks to the SJ police.
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