Tat Marina is a Cambodian survivor of a high-profile acid throwing attack in 1999.
11 Facts About Tat Marina
1.
2.
Tat Marina came into public attention when she was doused with acid at the age of 16 years in a jealousy attack, reportedly arranged by a wife of a high-ranking Cambodian government official.
3.
Tat Marina is married with two children and lives as a political refugee in the United States.
4.
Tat Marina sold fruit shakes when she was 14 years old, growing up in poverty, in order to earn enough to pay for her father's medical fees and feed the rest of her family.
5.
Tat Marina started spending some of her extra money going to small karaoke places to practice singing, in the hope of being a karaoke star.
6.
In 1998, Tat Marina was hired by a production company which produced karaoke videos.
7.
Tat Marina was feeding her 3-year-old niece in a downtown market in Phnom Penh when suddenly a few men pulled her to the ground and beat her unconscious.
8.
Tat Marina lost both her ears, half her hearing and her sense of smell.
9.
When giving the interview to the Phnom Penh Post, Tat Marina said that she believed the woman was the wife of Svay Sitha, now head of the Council of Ministers's Quick and Press Relation Unit.
10.
Tat Marina reported his wife, Khoun Sophal, who was eventually charged with the crime but has so far evaded authorities.
11.
Tat Marina flew to Vietnam and the United States for free medical surgery while assisted by her half-brother, Tat Sequando, a Cambodian American medical assistant living in the United States.