Nine years old girl allegedly tortured

Officials are investigating allegations that a 9-year-old girl was tortured while working as a housemaid for a family in Pursat province.

Ben Sivla, a commune councillor, said the girl’s neighbours reported the case to police and rights workers on Saturday after she fled the house where she lived and worked in Krakor district’s Anlong Thnout commune.

“She ran away from home because her [employers] fought her and accused her of taking their money,” she said.

She said officials had found “many wounds” on the girl’s head, hands, face and back – some of which appeared to have been inflicted with knives and ropes – and that the girl appeared to have been the victim of ongoing abuse.

“She has both new wounds and old wounds on her body,” she said.

She said the girl – who had previously worked for two other families and was sold to her current employers in exchange for 100 kilograms of rice – was being sheltered in an orphanage pending the results of an investigation, which would include interviews with the girl’s former employers.