32-Year Old Soldier Commits Suicide After Killing 16-Year-Old Wife With An AK-47 Rifle

32-Year Old Soldier Commits Suicide After Killing 16-Year-Old Wife With An AK-47 Rifle

A Cambodian military officer identified as Second Lt. Vong Tol killed
himself after shooting dead his 16-year-old wife with an AK-47 rifle
after he allegedly refused her request for a divorce.

The 32-year old soldier shot his wife, Uy Sokhom, in the chest in
their home in the northern province of Preah Vihear on Sunday before
shooting himself in the head. “He was angry with the wife for wanting to
divorce him,’’ Capt. Chuon Narong, a district penal police officer,
told the Times.

Narong said neighbours had heard the couple arguing earlier Sunday,
with Tol reportedly accusing his wife of having an affair, which she
denied. 

“The neighbours did not intervene because they regularly heard
the pair fighting. The couple was married for about a year and did not
have children,’’ Narong added. Tol worked on the provincial military base and his wife was a farmer in the area.  

Cambodia’s legal minimum age of marriage is 18 years old; however,
children who are no less than 16 may legally marry with permission from a
parent or guardian. According to 2014 figures, the most recent data
available from the United Nations’ child rights agency, almost one in
five women in Cambodia aged 20 to 24 years old were first married or in a
union before age 18.