A Lieutenant in the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces (RCAF) is being sought by police for the alleged murder of his wife in Phnom Penh’s Sen Sok district on Friday night following a marital dispute.

Colonel Mak Hong, Sen Sok district police chief, said that RCAF Second Lieutenant Song Touch had fought with his 34-year old wife, Tim Sophea, in their Phnom Penh Thmey commune home late on Friday night prior to allegedly murdering her and cremating her body in a large water-storage jug.

“He has escaped but we already know his identity,” he said, adding that “police are hunting to arrest him; we expect he will be arrested soon”.

Hong did not comment on possible motives for the crime.

However 51-year-old neighbour Ly Sok Heng said that Touch and his wife argued often “because Song Touch was jealous of her”.

Heng said that on Friday night when the couple argued, neighbours did not intervene as it was a usual occurrence, but the following night Touch left the home and told villagers he had killed Sophea.

“Before escaping, the husband told the neighbours that he had already killed his wife,” Sok Heng said.

“But no one believed him and thought that he was joking,” she added.

None of the villagers realised what had transpired until “early [the next] morning, when a neighbour entered [the home] to see [Sophea], and it was a frightening surprise because she was killed and burned inside a big jar and only a few pieces of bones remained,” Sok Heng said.

The victim’s family could not be reached for comment yesterday.