By Lauren Crothers
PHNOM PHEN, Cambodia
A Dutch UN consultant and her 19-month-old daughter were stabbed to death at their Phnom Penh home by a vagrant trying to steal a bicycle, local media reported Wednesday.
Chea Phin, 35, confessed to the double killing on the first day of his trial, the Cambodia Daily newspaper said.
Daphna Beerdsen, 31, and her daughter Dana were stabbed to death at their home in the Cambodian capital on the afternoon of April 27. They were found by a cleaner the following day.
Beerdsen, who suffered serious head and stab wounds during the attack, was dead but Dana was rushed to Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital in Phnom Penh before being airlifted to Bangkok General Hospital. She died on May 7.
Phin, who had been released from prison two weeks before the murders, said he had been drinking rice wine when he tried to steal a bicycle from behind the gate of the Beerdsens’ home.
Describing the screwdriver attack in Phnom Penh Municipal Court, Phin said: “She used a floor mop to beat me, then we beat each other and I stabbed her many times.”
The Daily said he testified that he closed his eyes as he struck out and was unaware that he had stabbed the little girl.
“If I had not seen a bicycle, I would not have entered,” he reportedly said. “If she had not shouted, it would have been OK."
Phin was arrested two days after the attack.
The court will pass sentence on Dec. 24.
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