An 8-year-old boy is in stable condition at Phnom Penh’s Kantha Bopha II Children’s Hospital after a 23-year-old man allegedly cut his throat in Svay Rieng province on Monday afternoon.

Tan Vandeth yesterday confessed that he cut the throat of Chan Ha – the son of a family Vandeth had long disliked – when the boy was playing outside, near Vandeth’s Bavet town home, said James McCabe, manager of operations at the Phnom Penh-based Child Protection Unit. Vandeth allegedly slit Ha’s throat with a knife after the child refused to share food.

“The victim was playing near the offender’s home, and it’s alleged that the offender had a longstanding dispute with the child’s father,” McCabe said yesterday.

Bleeding from his neck, Ha walked towards his home, when his grandmother saw him, and called emergency services, McCabe said. The boy was rushed to Phnom Penh, where his condition was stabilised.

As of yesterday afternoon, McCabe said Vandeth was being held at Svay Rieng provincial police headquarters.