Reduced sentence for husband who ordered wife to cut off genitals

The Appeal Court on Thursday reduced the sentence of a man who was sentenced to seven years in prison for assaulting his wife and ordering she cut off her external genitals for them to be fried and eaten.

The assault took place last year in a rented room at the karaoke bar where the victim worked in Chaom Chao II commune in the capital’s Por Sen Chey district.

Appeal Court Judge Yun Narong read out the ruling in the presence of the appellant, Noem Chhin, 39, reducing his original seven-year sentence to three.

“When you leave prison, you must not use violence or threaten your wife,” Narong told Chhin.

On March 14, 2018, Chhin assaulted his wife in a drunken rage fuelled by jealousy.

While beating her, he ordered her to cut off her external genitals with a razor blade, with them to be fried and eaten.

Chhin demanded that they then film themselves having sex, the court report quoted her as saying.

The wife refused to comply. She later lodged a complaint with local authorities, which led to Chhin’s arrest, the report added.

On June 19, Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced Chhin to seven years in prison on charges of violence against a spouse or partner under Article 222 of the Criminal Code and drug dealing under Article 40 of the Law on Drugs Control.

However, Chhin’s wife had since withdrawn her complaint, saying there was now no one helping to support the family.

“The court drops the drug dealing charge. Upon investigation, no evidence of drugs was found when authorities arrested Noem Chhin,” Judge Narong said.