A man was arrested at his home in Kompong Thom province on Wednesday morning on suspicion of hacking his wife to death just minutes earlier, a police official said.
Sandan district police chief Ourn Moly said that Vong Keang, 44, was arrested at his house in the district’s Sandan commune at about 6:30 a.m. after allegedly using a machete to kill his wife, Oum Nlon, 38, about half an hour earlier.
“Our first conclusion was that the suspect is mentally ill, because he is strange,” Mr. Moly said, noting that the suspect did not attempt to flee after the attack.
“Neighbors told police that Mr. Keang drank alcohol for many years, all day and all night, which turned him into a strange man,” he said.
“There were never any arguments between the couple,” Mr. Moly said, adding that the victim’s mother and the couple’s daughter were present at the time of the attack and escaped unscathed.
The police chief said Mr. Keang’s mental state would be assessed at a hospital.
“If the result of the hospital examination is that he has a mental problem, we will still send him to the court” to be charged, he said.
