NZ journalist stabbed and partner killed in Cambodia

A New Zealand woman is in a Bangkok hospital with stab wounds and her British partner is dead after the pair were attacked in what appeared to be botched robbery in Cambodia.

Journalist Jane Nye, from Wellington, sustained injuries to her neck, hands and head and was evacuated to Thailand for medical treatment.

Her partner, David Mitchell, from Walsall in central England, was stabbed to death.

The attack happened in Mr Mitchell's apartment in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.

An 18-year-old street kid named Tong Chen was arrested in a park as he cleaned blood off his knife after stabbing Mr Mitchell five times in the chest, police investigator Neang Sopheap said.

Ms Nye worked as managing editor of Cambodian Scene magazine.

Mr Mitchell owned the Ginger Monkey bar - a favourite hang-out for Phnom Penh expatriates and tourists.

A friend of Ms Nye's from Auckland said the 28-year-old studied journalism at Massey University in Wellington in 2003 and moved to Cambodia in August 2004.

Ms Nye's mother and stepfather lived in Cambodia, her mother working for Volunteer Services Abroad in the Cambodia Trust, a disability aid organisation, the friend said.

Ms Nye was staying at her partner's apartment, behind the Ginger Monkey bar, when the attack occurred.

Chhum Sara, who lived next door to the bar, said she heard Ms Nye screaming: "Help me! Help me," and that she feared her friend might die of blood loss.

After a preliminary investigation of the scene, police said the youth could have climbed up a wall to steal the couple's property but had woken them up.

There were pools of blood at the scene.

Under Cambodian law, Tong Chen could face life imprisonment if found guilty of murdering Mr Mitchell, who had been running the Ginger Monkey for several years.

Despite its reputation for lawlessness, most violence against foreigners in the impoverished nation, which is still recovering from decades of civil war including the Khmer Rouge genocide, is limited to street crime or assault.

- NZPA