The head of a healthcare centre in Oddar Meanchey’s Samrong district was sent to provincial court on Monday for killing his wife with a wooden stick during a domestic violence dispute, according to Nuon Eth, Samrong district police chief.

The 42-year-old director of the centre in O’smach commune was arrested on Saturday at Oddar Meanchey provincial hospital after he allegedly struck his 38-year-old wife in the right temple with a wooden stick, Nuon Eth said.

He added that the couple began fighting while the husband was intoxicated and the victim threatened him with a meat cleaver, causing him to pick up a piece of wood and hit her in the head. She was taken to the hospital by her husband, but died on the way.

“It’s a domestic violence dispute where the man was drunk at that time. He was angry with the wife who was calling another person, telling them that the man [made her upset] everyday,” Nuon Eth said.

Under article 224 of the new penal code, the man could be sentenced to anywhere between seven and 15 years in prison if found guilty, according to Nuon Eth.