Police are searching for a woman they allege abused children at the Ankar Sang Kros Chon Osh Sankhem orphanage in Pailin province.

Following an investigation yesterday into allegations of withheld food and beatings at the centre, police determined that 50-year-old contract worker Val Vary was responsible.

Sak Samoun, deputy chief of the Social Affairs Department in the province, said Vary had not provided enough food for the children, did not take them to hospital when they were ill and even beat them.

“We think that it is the fault of one person, so we do not have plans to close the centre, but we will file a compliant to the police to find the woman who escaped,” he said.

Vary lost her job at the orphanage after the allegations surfaced, police said, and has since fled the province.

Orphanage director Bun Lean Rin said that Vary worked there for two months as a babysitter, and when the allegations surfaced, “we sacked her”.