A rice farmer was hacked to death on Tuesday night in Preah Sihanouk province after getting into an argument with his long-time girlfriend’s other lover, whom police said they were still searching for as of Wednesday evening.
The victim, 47-year-old Chhuon Vichet, had just arrived at the house of his girlfriend, Chy Kheang, 53, at about 11 p.m. in Kompong Seila district when he encountered her lover, 56-year-old Khon Van, leaving the house, district police chief Hout Chanthy said.
“The [woman] asked the two men not to shout at each other,” he said.
They did not heed her request, and Mr. Van subsequently hacked Chhuon Vichet six times in the head, face and shoulder with an ax he had been carrying, the police chief said.
“We arrived about 30 minutes after being alerted, but the suspect had fled into the forest,” he said, adding that police believed he was still hiding there.
The victim and his girlfriend had been seeing each other for about six years, Mr. Chanthy said, but Tuesday was the first time the two men met.
