A Svay Rieng province woman who tore her house down, burned her husband with incense and chained him to a post apparently put her trust in the wrong fortune-teller.

The woman's husband got inebriated on wine he drank with friends Sunday night and came home to a wife who obviously doesn't understand the effects of alcohol, said Kong Rin, village chief of Bavet town's Chrok Mates commune.

"Her husband drank wine with his friends, and he was very drunk and … lost consciousness," Rin said. "Seeing that, she went to meet the fortune-teller to ask him what was wrong with her husband," he said.

After examining the woman's husband, the fortune-teller said that a "cruel ghost" was in her husband's spirit, and she must tear down her home or someone in her family would die, Rin said.

When her husband was hungover the next day, the fortune-teller prescribed burns to the chest with lit incense, and then chaining him to a pillar remaining from the torn-down house to chase the evil ghost out, Rin said.

"Actually, the husband got very drunk. So, he was sick, but his wife is very superstitious," Rin said. "I went to visit the victim at his home; he was put on an IV and he is better now,"

Chrok Mates commune police chief yesterday said he did not arrest the fortune-teller because the woman refused to file a complaint.

"I went to meet her yesterday, but she told me that this is her fault, it is not the fortune-teller's."