The Takeo provincial court on Sunday afternoon charged a man with premeditated murder after he allegedly hacked his wife to death with an axe and a sickle on Saturday.

Sem Socheat, the chief of the provincial police’s serious crimes bureau, on Monday identified the man as Pal Phoeun, 48.

Phoeun was sent to court the day after he was arrested on Saturday in Angkor Borei district’s Prek Phtorl commune.

“Provincial investigating judge Nou Dara charged him with premeditated murder after questioning and ordered police to put him in pre-trial detention at the provincial prison,” Socheat said.

Angkor Borei district police chief Phy Chhon said on Sunday the man was arrested after hacking his 52-year-old wife, Muth Kheang, with an axe and a sickle when she was sitting down making banana cakes in their kitchen.

Kheang is survived by her five children, aged between 14 and 22 years, he said. “The suspect was extremely jealous and threatened his wife not to speak with other men of his age in the village. He is also an alcoholic – but he had not been drinking on the day of the incident,” Chhon said.

In a separate case in Kandal province, a 30-year-old man was allegedly hacked by his friend with a meat cleaver on Saturday morning and then died on the way to the hospital. Police have arrested a suspect.

Sa’ang district police chief Seng Socheat on Sunday identified the victim as 30-year-old Pong Horng from Sa’ang district’s Prasat commune.

He told The Post that the 34-year-old suspect lived in Kien Svay district’s Koki Thom commune. The two became friends and used to work together in Thailand, Socheat said.

“According to the suspect’s confession, the victim had a secret love affair with the suspect’s girlfriend. That’s why he became so furious and vengeful that he hacked his friend to death,” he said.

Socheat said the suspect is being questioned by Judicial Police officials at the Kandal provincial police headquarters in preparation to present a case in court on Monday.