A neighbour was left with a meat cleaver embedded in his skull after the weapon was thrown out of a window during a fight between a couple living next door.

The point of the blade landed directly on the head of Chea Sokkot as he was repairing his boat on the shore in Kampong Cham, Cambodia.

Horrifying pictures show the 29-year-old lying on a stretcher with the cleaver still in his head as he prepared for surgery in hospital.

Chea Sokkot was left with a meat cleaver embedded in his skull after the weapon was thrown out of a window during a fight between a couple living next door

The point of the blade landed directly on the head of Chea Sokkot as he was repairing his boat on the shore in Kampong Cham, Cambodia

The gruesome incident unfolded after a row between his cousin and next door neighbour, Touch Channa (pictured), and her husband Sim Thea, 30. She was later arrested as police probed the horrific incident

The gruesome incident unfolded after a row between his cousin and next door neighbour, Touch Channa, and her husband Sim Thea, 30.

They started arguing when Thea slashed Channa's clothes with the meat cleaver, it has been reported.

She successfully disarmed him and thought she had removed the danger by throwing the knife through a window towards the river behind their home.

But the blade landed directly on Sokkot while he working outside.

Touch, the wife, was arrested over the incident on July 13, while officers investigated the incident.

Lt. Col. Ek Pranon, the Kampong Siem district police chief, said: 'Touch Channa was arrested for causing the accident.

Horrifying pictures show the 29-year-old lying on a stretcher with the cleaver still in his head as he prepared for surgery in hospital

'She said she was arguing with her husband in a case of domestic violence. Her husband cut her clothes and she pulled the knife from him and threw the knife into the river behind the house.

'Unfortunately this landed in the head of the victim. He was on the shore of the Mekong river renovating a boat.'

Dr. Yun Sinath, director of the provincial hospital, said the injuries were 'severe' and Chea's condition was serious but 'stable'.

He said: 'If the knife had been removed straight away the bleeding could cause a fatal accident.

'Mr Chea will be transferred to the hospital in Phnom Phen in an ambulance.'