The family of a 16-year-old yesterday filed a complaint to police against a restaurateur in Oddar Meanchey’s Anlong Veng district over injuries the girl sustained from alleged beatings while employed as a waitress.

Accordingly to Pheng Tet Theary, director of the Sovanna Phum Association, who dealt with the girl’s complaint, Phnom Dong Rek beat the girl on three occasions over the period of a month.

“He hit her with a soup spoon around her eyes, face and back, and in the end she could not endure it,” she said. “The suspect must face the law.”

The victim’s aunt, Min Moa, said that the family decided to file a formal complaint when the victim started showing signs of mental illness as a result of the abuse.

“Now she is very quiet and doesn’t speak as much as she did before,” she said. Moa added that the family had rejected the suspect’s offer of $600 compensation following questioning by police in which he reportedly confessed to the beatings.

Vong Tan, police chief of Anlong Veng commune, said that Dong Rek was arrested yesterday for further questioning.