A 34-year-old man was arrested on Saturday for allegedly raping a 4-year-old girl in Battambang’s Chamkar Samrong commune.

Born Vannara, chief of Battambang police’s Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Department, identified the suspect in custody as the victim’s uncle, Thoeun Sinat, 34.

The parents, he said, had returned from work at noon on February 16, but could not find their daughter.

“At 3pm, the victim came home crying,” said Vannara. “Then [her mother] . . . saw the girl was bleeding, so she reported it to the police,”he said, adding that Sinat is now in court custody.

Vannara said the uncle was the prime suspect because the girl had been with him while the parents were away.

Dam Makra, deputy district police chief, said police waited for the results of a medical exam before making an arrest.

“The suspect did not confess at first,” he said. “We just waited [until Saturday] . . . and requested an arrest warrant . . . when the doctor certified the victim was raped.’’

Child Protection Unit director Jim McCabe, who has been following the case, called it ‘‘concerning”, but added “it is encouraging that the offender was apprehended”.