Stung Treng Provincial Court yesterday charged a man for allegedly murdering his sister-in-law, the deputy chief of the provincial police statistics bureau, during a family gathering to commemorate Pchum Ben on Saturday, court and police officials said.
Neou Kimseng, a 51-year-old farmer, allegedly killed his 40-year-old sister-in-law, Doeuk Sovanny, by using a piece of metal pipe to bludgeon her head and torso, according to provincial penal police chief Dong Sivutha.
Mr Sivutha said the incident occurred at about 2 pm at at Mr Kimseng’s house in Stung Treng City’s Stung Treng commune.
“There was an argument between the suspect and the victim while the suspect was drinking,” he said. “The suspect was drunk then and he chased the victim to beat her. The victim was seriously beaten on her head and body.”
Provincial police arrested Mr Kimseng after being made aware of the incident by neighbors who had witnessed the attack, Mr Sivutha said.
He said Doeuk Sovanny died after being admitted to the provincial referral hospital on Saturday night and that Mr Kimseng had allegedly confessed to beating his sister-in-law when questioned by police on Saturday night though he had denied killing her out of revenge.
Mr Sivutha said that Doeuk Sivutha would be sorely missed by other provincial police officers. “I am very regretful that my work colleague has died,” he said.
Deputy provincial prosecutor Phat Thay said Mr Kimseng was charged yesterday with murder and was being held at Stung Treng Provincial Prison.
“This is a murder case. The suspect could possibly be jailed for between 10 and 15 years,” Mr Thay said. By law, however, a convicted murderer can be sentenced to a term of up to 20 years prison.
Ho Sam Ol, provincial investigator for the human rights group Adhoc, said yesterday that the murder was the fifth reported domestic violence incident in the province since the start of September.
“Those four other cases of domestic violence caused minor injuries,” he said.
