A stepfather was arrested in Koh Kong province on Wednesday after neighbors reported seeing him violently stripping off his 10-year-old daughter’s clothes in their home, officials said, adding that the girl later told police he had repeatedly raped her.
The unemployed 45-year-old was arrested at the family’s rented home in Khemara Phoumint City hours after he molested the girl, said provincial serious crimes police chief Meng Buntha.
He said neighbors reported the alleged abuse to rights group Licadho, which took the girl and her mother, a garment factory worker who was not home at the time, to provincial police headquarters to file a complaint.
The suspect was soon arrested.
During questioning, the girl told police she had been raped on four previous occasions, but did not tell anyone because “the suspect threatened to kill the victim if she dared to tell her mother,” Mr. Buntha said.
The stepfather was being detained at the provincial police headquarters after being questioned and would be sent to the provincial court today, he said.
