Thursday, September 07, 2006

Man nabbed for beating wife after attending gender class

Associated Press
09/07/2006


PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- A Cambodian man has been jailed for beating his wife right after attending a course on domestic violence, officials said Thursday.

Yorng Som, a deputy district police chief in Kampong Thom province, said a provincial court ordered 41-year-old Uy Im detained Thursday on a charge of causing bodily harm, which carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment.

He said the man had a drinking habit and often beat his wife, also 41. Local authorities had implored him many times to stop acting violently, but he failed to listen.

On Tuesday, a village chief made him attend a short course on human rights and domestic violence organized by a nonprofit Cambodian organization, the police official said.

After the class, however, Uy Im got drunk and beat his wife. He was arrested Tuesday, the official said.

"This time we could no longer forgive him and had to apply the law against him as an example so that others would not imitate him," Yorng Som said.

Kampong Thom province is located 127 kilometers (80 miles) north of Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh.

No comments: