Police in Kampot are on the lookout for a group of thieves who beat a woman to death and grievously injured her husband late on Saturday night.

Mao Chan Makthurith, Kampot provincial police chief, said yesterday that victim Oeng Sophy, 55, died at the scene, while her husband, Eu Kean, 56, with whom she ran a shop selling beer, was sent to hospital in Vietnam.

“For this case, the authorities are actively and attentively investigating, as we have evidence.

The Vietnamese medics reported that there is only a small chance [Kean] will survive since he got a critical brain injury,” he said, adding that police do not yet know what was used as a murder weapon.

Chan Makthurith declined to comment on who the suspects are, or even how many participated in the attack.

A provincial police officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that the suspects woke Sophy and Kean at around midnight, posing as customers.

Once through the gate, however, they rushed in and attacked the victims, with the couple’s children powerless to stop them.