A monk has been charged with intentional violence after getting drunk and attacking a man in Pursat’s Krakor district.

Mo Lyda, chief of Pursat provincial police’s minor penal bureau, said the court charged 27-year-old Socun Chan Rern on Monday after he got in a fight with his drinking partner, identified as Chhoun Pich.

“He is a monk but he drank wine as a layman. It is wrong in the Buddhist religion and he also got in a fight with someone,” Mo Lyda said.

He said the monk was defrocked on Friday after police arrested him while he was carrying two baseball bats and an axe.

Lem Song, Krakor district police chief, said the Chhoun Pich and his two friends were drinking palm wine when the monk joined them uninvited.

He said after the group had drunk more than five litres of wine, Chhoun Pich angered the monk by asking whether he was afraid of sinning, as drinking was forbidden.

It is alleged that after returning to his pagoda, the monk went to Chhoun Pich’s house and attempted to hit him with an axe.