Was Jerry Zivny really an aid worker killed in a robbery or a drunk sex tourist injured in a motorcycle accident?January 27, 2009
By Melissa Lampman
Kamloops This Week (Canada)
Questions raised in death of Kamloops aid worker in Cambodia
A new story is emerging about what happened to a Kamloops man who died in Cambodia, originally reported as having been attacked, robbed and left for dead in a ditch.
Jiri Zivny, 43, died on Jan. 15 in Calmette Hospital in Phnom Penh from injuries he allegedly sustained when assailants hit him on the head as he was riding away from a bank machine six days earlier in the coastal resort town of Sihanoukville.
According to the International Humanitarian Hope Society, the Kamloops-based charity with which Zivny went on the humanitarian aid mission to Southeast Asia to help orphans, Zivny was nearly beaten to death by his attackers, who stole $500 he withdrew at the ATM, along with his wallet, clothing and camera.
But subsequent reports from the country suggest the aid worker — who stayed with another group member known only as “Loren” to continue the mission overland to Thailand after the group split up in Vietnam in early December — may have died as a result of injuries he received in a motorcycle accident in Sihanoukville.
Curious to why newspapers in Cambodia were relying on Canadian media reports for information, freelance editor and writer Vincent MacIsaac, who lives in the small beachside town, looked into the alleged assault.
MacIsaac told KTW that, in addition to local traffic police reporting Zivny crashed his motorcycle into another bike in the early hours of Jan. 9, the chief of immigration police was quoted in the Cambodia Daily as never having heard of the attack.
“There was a media report that a fax was sent to the Canadian embassy here the day of the accident from traffic police in Sihanoukville, notifying the embassy that a Canadian had been injured in a traffic accident,” MacIsaac said.
When contacted by KTW, the Australian consulate in Phnom Penh, which provides services to Canadians in Cambodia, could neither confirm nor deny this.
“Consular officials are providing assistance and support to Mr. Zivny’s family, as well as following up with local authorities responsible for investigating his death,” said Daniel Barbarie, consular spokesperson.
“Due to the privacy act, no further information can be released on this case at this time.”
However, official police records show Zivny was transferred by an ambulance from Sihanoukville to the hospital in the capital city, where hospital records show he arrived at the emergency ward at 11:35 p.m. on Jan. 10, with the ambulance driver noting the patient had been in a motorcycle accident.
Zivny was immediately transferred to the intensive-care unit and, by 12:30 a.m., had been shifted to the neurological ward, where he died six days later, at 5:15 p.m. local time.
MacIsaac, who has worked in Far East and Southeast Asia for 14 years, was at Calmette Hospital the day Zivny died, interviewing doctors.
The doctors, he said, determined there were no cuts or bruises that indicated blunt-force trauma inflicted by an assailant.
“During the first interview, on the afternoon of Jan. 15, doctors treating the patient allowed me to see him,” MacIsaac reported in an article published in the Asian Sentinel.
“If he had been struck in the face, the wound had healed by then.”
Despite repeated attempts by KTW to contact her, Evelyn Picklyk, president and founder of IHHS, could not be reached for comment before press deadline.
A new story is emerging about what happened to a Kamloops man who died in Cambodia, originally reported as having been attacked, robbed and left for dead in a ditch.
Jiri Zivny, 43, died on Jan. 15 in Calmette Hospital in Phnom Penh from injuries he allegedly sustained when assailants hit him on the head as he was riding away from a bank machine six days earlier in the coastal resort town of Sihanoukville.
According to the International Humanitarian Hope Society, the Kamloops-based charity with which Zivny went on the humanitarian aid mission to Southeast Asia to help orphans, Zivny was nearly beaten to death by his attackers, who stole $500 he withdrew at the ATM, along with his wallet, clothing and camera.
But subsequent reports from the country suggest the aid worker — who stayed with another group member known only as “Loren” to continue the mission overland to Thailand after the group split up in Vietnam in early December — may have died as a result of injuries he received in a motorcycle accident in Sihanoukville.
Curious to why newspapers in Cambodia were relying on Canadian media reports for information, freelance editor and writer Vincent MacIsaac, who lives in the small beachside town, looked into the alleged assault.
MacIsaac told KTW that, in addition to local traffic police reporting Zivny crashed his motorcycle into another bike in the early hours of Jan. 9, the chief of immigration police was quoted in the Cambodia Daily as never having heard of the attack.
“There was a media report that a fax was sent to the Canadian embassy here the day of the accident from traffic police in Sihanoukville, notifying the embassy that a Canadian had been injured in a traffic accident,” MacIsaac said.
When contacted by KTW, the Australian consulate in Phnom Penh, which provides services to Canadians in Cambodia, could neither confirm nor deny this.
“Consular officials are providing assistance and support to Mr. Zivny’s family, as well as following up with local authorities responsible for investigating his death,” said Daniel Barbarie, consular spokesperson.
“Due to the privacy act, no further information can be released on this case at this time.”
However, official police records show Zivny was transferred by an ambulance from Sihanoukville to the hospital in the capital city, where hospital records show he arrived at the emergency ward at 11:35 p.m. on Jan. 10, with the ambulance driver noting the patient had been in a motorcycle accident.
Zivny was immediately transferred to the intensive-care unit and, by 12:30 a.m., had been shifted to the neurological ward, where he died six days later, at 5:15 p.m. local time.
MacIsaac, who has worked in Far East and Southeast Asia for 14 years, was at Calmette Hospital the day Zivny died, interviewing doctors.
The doctors, he said, determined there were no cuts or bruises that indicated blunt-force trauma inflicted by an assailant.
“During the first interview, on the afternoon of Jan. 15, doctors treating the patient allowed me to see him,” MacIsaac reported in an article published in the Asian Sentinel.
“If he had been struck in the face, the wound had healed by then.”
Despite repeated attempts by KTW to contact her, Evelyn Picklyk, president and founder of IHHS, could not be reached for comment before press deadline.
13 comments:
why can this mention long ago...why sway from the real situation...sahme on you/ you have no respect to other who tried to help khmers.
hmmmm no idea about this.
From http://freedownloadingmovie.blogspot.com
Ah Hun To killed him.
KI Media is RACIST. Sure this guy may have visited your sister in one of the local hundreds of bordello's in Cambodia but he was there on an aid mission. Cambodia would be even worse of a sewer hole if it were not for aid workers. Your better neighbor Vietnam has a 93% literacy rate up from 2% in 1945 and today we would be hard pressed to find a Cambodian who even attempted to read a book in the last year. Bravo KI media - you are finally showing your true colors which are PURE RACIST.
2:03AM
How you can advance that "Hun To" (Hun Sen's son) killed him?
Do you have some clue in that?
This Canadian was a sex tourist who stayed in Kompong Som for five weeks bar hopping and fucking Khmer girls.
He got drunk one night and hit a Cambodian motorcyclist, who also died from the accident.
Instead of being reported a drunk sex tourist who caused the death of a local Cambodian, he was portrayed as a hero for having visited some orphanages in Thailand and Vietnam.
This is the new way to come and fuck Khmer women and children nowadays. White men can come and visit a couple of orphanages and fuck all the Khmer women and children they, and even get drunk and kill Khmer civilians if they wish. Visiting a orphanage will keep them out of prison and if something like this happens, they'll be called a hero.
7:58 PM, how is KI Media racist for posting a report from a Canadian source?
This guy was not only sex tourist who died in an accident. He was also a MURDERER for getting on the motorcycle while drunk and KILLING a Khmer on a motorbike.
The KHMER guy who he hit is DEAD and all we hear about are lies about how an "aid worker" was robbed, beaten and killed by Khmer people.
Do you think Khmer people are animals? Don't we deserve justice just like the white people?
This guy spent six days in Calmette hospital? No wonder he died. Why wasn't he evacuated to Bangkok or Vietnam? To not get him proper medical treatment is downright negligent. And to think he could get it at Calmette is downright stupid.
It wasn't a robbery or accident. It was vehicular manslaughter. This Canadian sex tourist got drunk and hit a Khmer man on a motorcycle, who also died from the collision.
This guy was a pedophile in disguise.
get your facts straight he was not there for weeks but a couple of days his wallet camara and clothes were missing police report said accident happened at 2;30 am he was in the hospital at 11:45 no scratches on his body but a black eye and 2 blows to the head his friend was with him 1 hour earlier and he was not drunk girl he was supposed to be with was not the same name on police report motor cycle they said he hit had no licence let`s not assume anything stuff does not add up is there a cover up???
the picture in this article is not even jiri please check this and remove ki media before someone sues you
you are right nothing adds up here could be another cover up and your right that is not even him in the picture what`s going on here
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