KHIN o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2005-06-29 published
Troubled husband faces charge in Cambodian woman's slaying
By Randy RICHMOND,
Free
Press
Reporter
Tired of the voices in his head, Ngeab
KHIN was heading to his
homeland of Cambodia tomorrow to get spiritual help.
His wife, Yorn
MEY, was travelling with him. After surviving
civil war in Cambodia, refugee camps and a bout with throat cancer
seven months ago, she was willing to help her husband on his
journey.
Instead, yesterday,
KHIN, 49, was charged with second-degree
murder in the death of his wife
MEY, 49.
And their two sons are left with a family torn apart.
"I don't have a mom or dad now. I don't know what to do," said
son Soeun KHIN, 23, yesterday.
"They got their luggage packed and by the door and this is what
happened. My mom survived war and throat cancer and now this."
It was the second slaying in London within 24 hours.
While the deaths of four people Monday on Princess Avenue drew
hordes of media and police, only a line of yellow police tape
and two cruisers on a quiet stretch of Chippewa Drive bore witness
to yesterday's slaying.
Police were called about 12: 05 a.m. to 1081 Chippewa Dr. and
found MEY dead.
There were signs of trauma to her body, but the cause of her
death hasn't been determined, said London police Const. Jeff
ARBING.
Police stressed they had not recorded any other incidents of
domestic violence at the address before.
But they would release little other information until a post-mortem
expected today.
Neighbours could reveal little about the family or shed light
on what happened.
"To me they were just a nice old couple," said Laura
GILLIAN,
who lives across the road.
But behind the trim shrubs and inside the tidy-looking grey brick
bungalow, there had been signs of trouble.
"He just started to get some different ideas in his mind," said
the family's minister, Reverend Mom
PEIN of the New Apostolic Church
in London.
PEIN gathered family members at his home yesterday. While one
son, Samnang, 20, went to identify his mother's body, Soeun tried
to understand what went wrong.
"It happened after my grandmother, his mother, died, two or three
years ago," Soeun said. "He (my dad) started becoming delusional.
He believed he was a prophet."
The family went along until things got out of hand.
They tried to get
KHIN help, but he refused. He believed he would
die if he got medical help, Soeun said.
The family went to police, who suggested they find a doctor.
They called an ambulance to the door about a year ago, but
KHIN
refused to go.
"He used to hide the knives because he thought we were going
to hurt him. He thought he was the okay one and we were all wrong,"
Soeun said.
The family had fled Cambodia's civil war in the late 1970s and
ended up in Thailand, where Soeun was born.
They arrived in Canada about 20 years ago. His mother and father
found jobs at Cuddy Food Products, though both were on compensation
because of physical injuries, Soeun said.
In the past few months, the stress of his father's mental illness
was getting worse, Soeun said.
Monday evening,
KHIN got up to work the overnight shift at Lamko
Tool and Mould in London and saw his father. "He was just sitting
in his chair. That's all he's been doing for the past couple
of months."
His father figured he could get help in Cambodia for the voices
in his head.
Soeun's wife sat on
PEIN's front porch yesterday and, between
sobs, called Friends in Cambodia who had been expecting to meet
her in-laws at the airport.
"Her own mother died three years ago. Three months later, we
got married and she got a new mom," Soeun said.
"They were very close. Now she is going through this again."
His wife was the first to learn about the slaying, coming home
from work yesterday morning to see police tape outside the house.
She called Soeun at work and he rushed home.
"It just blew me away. He is a really good dad."
The couple lived in the home with their parents and younger brother.
"I don't know if I can stay after what happened," Soeun said.
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