Svay Ontor district police in Prey Veng province have sent the branch manager of a microfinance business to court for allegedly murdering an employee.

District deputy police chief Peng Vorn identified the suspect as Chantha, 30, director of the Vivath Microfinance branch in Svay Ontor, and the victim as Chenda, a 27-year-old resident of Kampong Leav commune in Prey Veng town. She was the chief accountant.

Vorn said the victim was found dead by her colleagues in the office on the afternoon of September 26.

Police found many wounds on the body. At the bottom of the neck, there were bruises, which they concluded were the result of torture. The victim had her hands and feet tied, beaten and strangled, leading to death from suffocation.

Vorn said that after killing the victim, the suspect tried to take his own life by drinking rat poison but failed.

He said police immediately sent the suspect to Svay Ontor district referral hospital. After emergency treatment, he recovered and was detained on the morning of September 27.

“The suspect confessed that he killed the woman due to a conflict at work,” Vorn said.

Citing the victim’s mother, Vorn said that on September 26 the victim told her mother the suspect had called her to have a one-on-one meeting.

When Chenda did not return home as usual, the mother tried to contact her by phone and became suspicious. Then she went to the workplace and asked staffers there to help her find her daughter. They found her lying dead in a room.

Provincial deputy police chief Pov Chivy told The Post on September 29 that the suspect had been placed in pre-trial detention after the prosecutor and investigating judge charged him with premeditated murder under Article 200 of the Criminal Code.

Chantha faces life in prison if found guilty.