The Kampot Provincial Court on Thursday released a doctor who was arrested in Kampot City on Wednesday after neighbors reported that he had been physically abusing his adopted 15-year-old daughter, police said.
Khem Tith, 42, a doctor at the provincial referral hospital in Kampot City, was apprehended at his home in the city’s Kraing Ampil commune on Wednesday afternoon, said commune police chief Eng Vanna.
“We brought him for questioning because neighbors [also] reported that he tortured the child,” Mr. Vanna said.
Deputy provincial police chief Seng Sereyratha said that when the teenager was questioned by police following Mr. Tith’s arrest, she said she was beaten by her adoptive father’s nephew, who also lived with them.
“The doctor’s nephew beat the girl and beat her as a way to educate her because she stole money,” the deputy police chief said, adding that the girl admitted that she had stolen money from the house on four occasions.
Ms. Sereyratha said the provincial court decided to release Mr. Tith on Thursday because they did not have sufficient evidence to charge him, adding that the girl was now in the custody of her biological grandmother.
