A woman filed a complaint with police in Phnom Penh’s Teuk Thla commune yesterday after her 21-month-old son was allegedly stolen from her home on Saturday night while she was at a party at a nearby friend’s house.

Commune police chief Phay Socheat said that the woman, named Seng Teuk Thla, 20, had accused her former long-term boyfriend – the boy’s father – of having kidnapped the child.

In her complaint, the woman said the pair had lived together for about two years, but “about six months after I gave birth to our son, my partner wanted to split up . . . He demanded [custody over] our son, but I did not agree. I believe that he is the one who stole my son.”

Socheat, however, said authorities were sceptical of the woman’s version of events, but would nonetheless investigate.