Police arrested a nomad on Friday for molesting a 3-year-old girl in Siem Reap province’s Svay Loeu district.
Chhum Soriya Porleak, 37, was imprisoned in 2014 for sexual assault but released last year, said Sin Meng, deputy district police chief.
“The suspect traveled to a lot of places, many provinces, but we don’t know his reasons,” Mr. Meng said, adding that he arrived in the district last week.
He said the girl’s grandmother, who was babysitting her at the time, had gone to visit Mr. Soriya Porleak at a neighbor’s house, intrigued to meet the vagabond.
After a brief chat, the man convinced the grandmother to go buy him noodles, leaving him alone with the girl.
The girl’s parents returned from work and found their daughter with the man.
Asked about the encounter, the girl told her mother that the man had touched her genitals, said Mr. Meng.
The parents then contacted police, leading to the arrest. “The suspect would not confess to molesting the girl,” he said.
Doung Sokha, chief of the provincial police’s serious crimes bureau, said the suspect was sent to the provincial court on Sunday morning.
