A 29-year-old man was arrested and charged with murdering his one-year-old cousin on Sunday.

Kim Heng lived with his aunt and second cousin in Banteay Meanchey’s Preah Netr Preah district.

The suspect’s aunt, Chreb San, 56, told police that on Sunday, she called her nephew to come to dinner. The man emerged from the house and allegedly grabbed the child, hacking the infant’s head with a meat cleaver and throwing him against a pillar.

“After he killed the boy, he turned to chop his aunt until she, too, was seriously injured,” alleged Keo Bun Yoeun, district police chief. “The villagers and relatives said the man did not argue or have any problem with [his aunt], but the man liked to stay quietly in a dark place.

“The villagers said he used to have a mental health problem several years ago and he just came back from working in Thailand,” the police chief said, adding that the infant’s parents also work in Thailand.