A 41-year-old man was sent to the Battambang Provincial Court on Sunday for allegedly murdering his 28 year-old wife, Vy Chork, with a cleaver last Tuesday in Ratanak Mondol district’s Phlov Meas commune.

“The suspect commited the crime and confessed to it. The report sent to the prosecutor is related to murder,” Battambang provincial deputy police chief Chet Vanny said.

On Sunday, Ratanak Mondol district police chief Sorn Nil told The Post that the couple, who have a 10 year-old son, were drunkards.

Nil said they sometimes worked as farmers or labourers at plantations, but didn’t have steady jobs. He added that their drinking habits contributed to domestic violence.

A witness said on the day of the incident, the accused left home to drink alcohol with other villagers.

When he came back home drunk, he verbally abused Chork.

Chork verbally retaliated to his attacks, which caused the situation to escalate until the accused grabbed a cleaver that was close to him and slashed her multiple times. She died at the scene, the witness said.

The suspect fled after the attack and residents reported the crime to the commune police office.

Authorities arrived at the scene and reported that Chork suffered wounds to the head, body, and neck.

After identifying the assailant, commune authorities and district police traced him to neighbouring Samlot district, where he was detained by local authorities later that day.

“That person did not commit the offence in my district, but escaped here,” Samlot district police chief Lon Samnang told The Post on Sunday.