POLICE in the Sen Sok district of Phnom Penh on Tuesday said they arrested a 43-year-old man on suspicion of raping his daughter.

The man, arrested Monday night, stands accused of forcing his daughter to have sex with him on four occasions between 2000 and 2003, police said.

The girl, now 17, told police her father raped her four times over a three-year period, the first taking place when she was 9 years old. The girl’s father threatened to kill her if she told anyone about the assault, police said.

The father has denied the allegations.

Samleang Seila, country director for the NGO Action Pour Les Enfants, said the girl broke her silence on Monday after her father tried to sexually assault her again.

“She ran away from home immediately while her father chased after her and threw a pole at her,” Samleang Seila said. “Luckily, she arrived at the village chief’s house nearby and told her story.”

Change of heart

The father is being held at Sen Sok police station and is due to appear at Phnom Penh Municipal Court today, district police Deputy Chief Cheav Vibol said Tuesday.

Also Tuesday, the girl tried unsuccessfully to withdraw her complaint because she feared that if her father was imprisoned, there would be no one to help care for her invalid mother, Cheav Vibol said.

Samleang Seila added: “The victim shared a house with her father and a mother who didn’t know about the rape. Now, the victim and her mother will be in the care of her older sister.”