A jealous husband has admitted beheading his wife with a meat cleaver before stuffing her severed head in a sack and riding away on a motorcycle.
Phuong Ratha, 27, moved into a rented room with his 23-year-old wife Ly Srey Nouch and their one-year-old son but became convinced she was seeing other men in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
He attacked her before slitting her throat and severing her neck with the huge kitchen knife during a jealous rage last Friday evening May 27.
The husband stuffed Ly's head in a white sack and rode away on a motorcycle before dumping it in a nearby wasteland.
The couple's horrified neighbour Phan Sreyphet, 48, checked on the pair later that day but was shocked to find Ly's dismembered corpse on the blood-covered white tile floor.
The knife was found on the ground nest to empty beer cans and covered in blood with strands of Ly's hair seen on the blade.
Police immediately launched a manhunt for the husband and found him later the next afternoon, May 28, in his home town in Takeo province around 60 miles away.
Phuong told police that he slit his wife's throat in a jealous rage and tried to conceal her head.
He said: "I was jealous because I felt like my wife was acting differently. I didn't beat her before I killed her. I used a white knife to cut her throat."
The husband said he and Ly moved into the property in the Cambodian capital in February. They were starting a new life with their son.
However, neighbours told police the husband was 'violent and abusive'. He would allegedly shout at Ly and accuse her of chatting to other men on her phone.
Phan, the neighbour who found the body, said: "I heard them arguing a lot and the husband would often shout. He was very jealous.
"I was worried about the wife and checked on her in the evening. That's when I found her body on the floor."
In a statement released by the Boeung Kak district police, an officer said that the victim's mutilated body was found in a pool of blood by neighbours.
They immediately called the authorities around 7pm.
They said: "The victim was found face-down on a tiled floor with her throat cut. Only the couple lived in the rental unit. There are no other suspects and the husband has confessed."
Lieutenant general Song Ly, Deputy Commissioner for Criminal Planning at the Phnom Penh Municipal Police, said the husband had been driven by jealously.
He said: "The attack was motivated by anger and jealousy.
"An arrest warrant was issued and the suspect was caught. He has admitted to murdering his wife in a violent and brutal way. He will formally face the charges in court."
The suspect appeared at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday morning, May 30, where he was remanded in custody for sentencing.
