A woman convicted of murdering her lover had her sentence reduced by eight years yesterday after she admitted to the crime at the Supreme Court.

Som Sophea, 34, said she murdered Tep Mao, then 40, in 2011 by mixing 30 sleeping pills into his drink and then strangling him to death.

Sophea was convicted in February of 2014 to 28 years in jail, but successfully appealed the sentence yesterday.

“I decided to forward the case to the Supreme Court because the lower courts have sentenced me to too many years in prison and I ask the court to reduce the punishment,” she said.

According to court records, Sophea and Mao were engaged in an affair.

On the night of August 26, 2011, Mao and Sophea met at a Phnom Penh guesthouse, where Mao threatened to kill Sophea if she did not murder her husband.

Sophea then got Mao drunk and spiked his drink with sleeping pills, strangling him once he was asleep.

“The suspect admitted that she killed the victim,” presiding judge Soeng Phanhavudth said at the hearing yesterday.