The Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Office of the Oddar Meanchey provincial police called a 34-year-old man in for questioning after his wife filed a complaint that he bound the hands and legs of a seven-month-old baby last year.
The mother of the baby said the reason she did not file a complaint sooner and waited until Monday was because she was being threatened. She told The Post she needed time to take care of the child and escape from her husband.
Oddar Meanchey provincial deputy police chief Mel Ly told The Post on Wednesday that the husband, Thuon Phana, denied the complaint.
“Authorities have not accused the man yet because the incident happened a year ago which requires time to find more evidence.
“The suspect said he did not commit the act. He said they were home together. He left and when he came back to the house he saw the baby had a problem with his hands and legs,” he said.
Kheng Theary, the baby’s mother accused her husband of binding the child’s hands and legs when she went downstairs to use the bathroom. She has since divorced him and lives with her two sons, a six-year-old and the baby.
She met her husband on Facebook, according to the police. Ly said she told police that she initially thought he was a good person but learned of his true nature after living with him, according to statements she gave to police.
Theary told The Post there was no argument but he committed the act because he is a brutal person. She said when she took her injured baby to the hospital her husband caught her older son and he threatened to kill him if she told the police.
She said she escaped to her home province of Kampong Cham when her husband went to Thailand.
Theary then took her children to Oddar Meanchey on Wednesday after the provincial police office there called her to explain the issue.
