PHNOM Penh Municipal Court sentenced a woman to seven years in prison yesterday for the murder of her husband in the capital’s Tuol Kork district this year, in what the woman claims was self-defence.

Dam Thyheang, 52, a Vietnamese national, was charged with murder on January 29 after she killed her husband, 55-year-old Nguyen Yong, during a domestic violence incident at their home in Tuol Sangke commune on January 25. “She had used a vegetable knife to stab the victim’s stomach and chest,” judge Ker Sakhorn said in court yesterday.

Dam Thyheang declined to speak to reporters yesterday, but confessed to killing her husband during a court hearing last week, claiming she had to in order to protect herself.  Dam Thyheang claimed her husband had often beaten her while he was drunk and had wanted to kill her.

Lam Sokuntheara, a lawyer at the Cambodian Women’s Crisis Centre, said yesterday that she was not aware of Dam Thyheang’s case, but had encountered similar cases. “Women who suffer from domestic violence should have their sentences cut down by the court,” she said. “She is the victim also.” ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SEN DAVID