Suicide attempt

A husband tried to commit suicide in Pailin province on Sunday by drinking pesticide after his wife chastised him for selling their land without her knowledge, officials said yesterday.

Pailin town deputy police chief Him Mork said that 30-year-old Roeun Reth consumed half a litre of chemical pesticide spray after his wife learned that he had sold a portion of their land and wasted the proceeds. “I think he was ashamed at what he had done,” Him Mork said.

Roeun Reth’s wife, Mil Em, said that her husband had sold a hectare of their fruit farm to pay for alcohol and karaoke. “I was very angry when he told me about this, and I insulted and cursed him,” she said.

Roeun Reth threatened to kill himself, but Mil Em said that she did not believe him and walked to her parents’ house, returning later to find her husband had fainted.

“He was on the ground foaming at the mouth with a bottle of pesticide near him, and then I realised that he had probably drank it,” she said.

Mil Em and her two brothers rushed Roeun Reth to hospital, where he was treated and  released yesterday.