A 17-year-old girl who for the past year says she has been systematically abused as a domestic worker in Phnom Penh escaped from her employer’s home on Saturday, according to police and rights workers.
On Saturday, police arrested her employer, Kong Sinath, 31, who has employed the teen since April 2013 at her motorcycle repair shop in Sen Sok district’s Prek Pnov commune.
The teenage victim claims that she was punished by being forced to consume her own vomit and urine by her employer, who paid her $150 per month, said Sao Seny, senior children’s rights monitor at Licadho.
“The victim said that the house owner ordered her to eat her vomit, but the victim couldn’t do it,” Mr. Seny said.
“Then the house owner took a ladle and hit her over her whole body,” he said, adding that the Ms. Sinath told the girl that if she ran away, the girl’s family would have to immediately repay money loaned by Ms. Sinath.
On Friday, the girl managed to escape from the house and made it to the commune police office. Bruises covered her body and it appeared she hadn’t been able to wash herself in several days, said Mr. Seny.
Ms. Sinath was questioned at the district police station on Sunday, according to Bun Sang, Prek Pnov commune police chief.
The girl is now in a safe house run by a local human rights group.
