A 31-year-old man was arrested on Sunday afternoon, hours after allegedly killing his mother and badly injuring his two siblings in Stung Trang commune, in Pailin province’s Sala Krao district, a police official said.

Ry Dara, a Sala Krao deputy district police chief, said the son, identified as Thung Neang, had recently divorced his wife and left his one-year-old daughter and four-year-old son with his mother.

On Sunday morning, Neang was attempting to take the children from his mother to live with another family in the village as he prepared to enter the monkhood at a local pagoda, Dara said.

However, his mother disagreed with his decision, triggering an argument. Grabbing an axe, Neang attacked his mother from behind, killing her instantly. When his 25-year-old brother and 20-year-old sister tried to intervene, the suspect attacked them as well, leaving them seriously injuries, Dara added.

After the fatal incident, villagers called the commune police, who contacted district police who soon arrested the son and questioned him at the Sala Krao District Police Station, he said.

“The man is the son of the victim. He hacked his mother to death and seriously injured his siblings. Our police forces arrested him the same day,” Dara said.

District police sent him to the provincial police station on Sunday afternoon for further questioning before forwarding the case to court.