Police arrested five suspects in Phnom Penh yesterday over the brutal stabbing of a 25-year-old Chinese woman, who was a colleague and housemate of her alleged attackers.

The suspects, all Chinese nationals, include three men and two women, according to the chief of Por Sen Chey district police, Lieutenant Colonel Yim Sarann.

Sarann said the victim, Chen Huay, was killed on Sunday at about 8:30pm inside her second-floor flat. She had suffered multiple stab wounds to the torso and throat, he added.

Sarann said those arrested were accused of jointly committing the crime.

“They are all now temporarily detained for questioning and further investigation.”

According to Kim Sarun, a penal police officer in Choam Chao commune, the group, who work for the Chinese Development and Construction Company, may have had a grudge with the victim. He said one suspect, Yang Peipei, 25 – who has denied killing the woman – was found in a nearby room, with blood on her hair and toenails, holding a stick.