A Cheating husband is suffering from severe burns after his wife allegedly doused him with petrol and set him on fire after finding him in bed with another woman in Kampong Chhang province, police said yesterday.

Kampong Tralach district’s deputy district police chief, Srey Ra, said: “The victim’s wife took half a litre of petrol and doused her husband while he was asleep and then set him on fire, burning almost his entire body.”

His wife, 51-year-old Math Sreymars, was reportedly not sleeping at her house for several days leading up to the incident because she was receiving treatment for an illness. Srey Ra said she returned to her home on Tuesday night to find her husband absent.

She then discovered him in bed with a widow who lived nearby and set him on fire.

Burns victim Lars Lich, aged 53, was sent to Kampong Chhang provincial hospital on Wednesday and later transported to Preah Kosomak hospital in Phnom Penh for treatment. “We did not arrest Math Sreymars because her husband did not file a complaint with the authorities,” said Srey Ra.

He also added that the victim declined the opportunity to provide detailed information of the incident when he was questioned.