A woman arrested on Friday for abusing her 10-year-old great-niece was provisionally charged at the Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Monday with intentional violence against a minor, a court official said.
The woman, Sok Phally, 50, was taken into custody after a neighbor called into the popular ABC radio station on Thursday night and reported that Ms. Phally was beating the girl.
Police intervened the next day and found the child with several wounds, as well as extensive scarring.
The child was removed from her great-aunt’s care and placed in the temporary custody of ABC radio, while Ms. Phally was arrested that evening by municipal military police.
Ly Sophanna, a court spokesman, said the woman was provisionally charged by deputy prosecutor Va Sakada on Monday and would be remanded to the custody of military police overnight and returned to court today to appear before an investigating judge.
If convicted, she could be sentenced to up to five years in prison and fined as much as 10 million riel, about $2,500. Hul Chanthach, a staffer at ABC radio, said the girl would remain at the station for the time being.
“We will send her to school like other children and provide her with clothes, studying materials and the same opportunities,” he said.
