'This is not a funny story'

Phnom Penh - A Cambodian man convicted of smacking a female motorist's bottom was handed a one-year suspended jail sentence and his friend was sentenced to the same term in absentia, a court official said on Wednesday.Phnom Penh municipal court prosecutor Kry Soky said Van Theara, 22, remained on the lam after being found complicit in delivering a playful slap on the bottom to a female motorbike rider which his friend had claimed was meant as a joking compliment.He said Theara's friend, Khun Pheakdey, 18, had been ordered to pay compensation of $350 and released after already serving five months in jail for his moment of indiscretion."This is not a funny story because funny stories do not end up in court. This is sexual harassment. A polite man takes a strange girl he likes by the hand, not by the bottom," Soky said by telephone.The case was prosecuted after the victim's parents heard about the incident and filed a complaint to the court, he said. - Sapa-dpa