A 54-year-old man was arrested in Preah Sihanouk province on Monday over allegations from his children that he killed his wife following a disagreement about slaughtering a chicken.

Hem Samon, police chief of Prey Nop district’s Samaki commune, where the wife was killed, yesterday identified the suspect as Pin Phan.

Samon said Phan had spent the day drinking beer with his neighbours, returning home to catch a chicken to cook and eat when his companions ran out of food.

His wife, grocer Suos Sovan, 62, stepped in to stop him. The two fell into an argument, which spiralled into a brawl in which Phan delivered a fatal blow to his wife, Samon said.

“During the fight, the husband punched her, knocking her unconscious to the ground,” Sovan said. “Her children took her to the provincial hospital but, unfortunately, she died.”

Deputy provincial police chief Kol Phally said that later the same day, Sovan’s children filed a complaint to the police, who arrested Phan and held him at the district police station overnight.

As of yesterday, police were preparing documents to send Phan to court, he added.