An Egyptian woman has killed her husband and cut his body into three parts, allegedly for frequently abusing her, local media reported.

Aided in the murder by her son-in-law, the 45-year-old woman had put the body parts into bags and tossed them into a ditch in the town of Qaliub, north of Cairo, reports said.

Later, the husband’s body parts were found in the ditch. Police investigations blamed the murder on the wife who perpetrated it in complicity with her son-in-law, aged 25 years.

After her arrest, the suspect admitted to having committed the crime using a knife, claiming that the victim used to ill-treat and hit her.

Police investigations showed that the woman had laced the man’s food with sleeping pills and when he fell asleep, she sliced him up into three parts with assistance from her son-in-law.

Prosecutors ordered the two suspects remanded for four days pending further interrogations.

In recent months, Egyptian media have reported several incidents of family violence, with some of them culminating in murders.

Last month, an Egyptian man had allegedly killed his wife for her failure to prepare a meal for him.

The murder occurred after a dispute between the couple in their house in the city of Benha north of the Egyptian capital.