Police were searching on Tuesday for a man accused of hacking his sister-in-law to death with a machete and seriously injuring his wife during a domestic dispute in Takeo province.
Meourn Kan, 36, was on the run after fatally slashing his sister-in-law, Snoung Kunthea, 63, and seriously injuring his wife, Snoung Ly Houch, 35, during a rampage on Monday night at his home in Donkeo City’s Roka Knong commune, said Chak village chief Som Saran.
“The husband hacked the sister-in-law one time in the neck and hacked the wife many times on the head,” Mr. Saran said.
Ms. Ly Houch was rushed to the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital in Phnom Penh after neighbors raised the alarm, he said.
Mr. Kan, who has five children with his wife, had recently returned from Thailand where he worked as a laborer, Mr. Saran said.
Commune police chief Chhay Savuth said he believed the attack was related to a dispute that started after Ms. Ly Houch did not carry through on a promise to buy a motorbike for her husband.
“When the suspect returned from Thailand, the wife promised to buy him a motorcycle, but the wife didn’t have money,” he said.
Commune police officer Nop Sarom said Ms. Ly Houch was in a critical condition. “She might not survive,” he said. “If she survives, it will be hard.”
In a separate case, the body of a 22-year-old waitress was found at her rented home in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district at about 9 a.m. on Tuesday, district police chief Hor Meng Vang said.
Phat Srey had been strangled with a hammock, he said, adding that a neighbor reported hearing a loud argument coming from the house on Sunday.
Police are searching for the victim’s boyfriend, a 37-year-old motorbike taxi driver, he said.
