SIEM Reap provincial court on Wednesday placed a 39-year-old man in pretrial detention after charging him with raping his three daughters – who are 6, 8, and 11 years old – on multiple occasions, officials said Thursday.

“We have charged him with rape ... and ordered him to serve pretrial detention behind bars pending further investigation,” investigating judge Ith Samphos said.

Nhem Virak, chief of the provincial Anti-Human Trafficking and Juvenile Protection Bureau, said Wednesday that the suspect, Tuy Savy, was arrested in Pouk district’s Keo Por commune on Tuesday evening, after a complaint from the girls’ mother.

“The suspect confessed to raping only two of his daughters, aged 8 and 11, on 11 occasions, while he said he tried to rape the 6-year-old girl, but was not successful because she screamed,” he said, and added that crimes occurred over the course of several months.

Ith Samphos said that, if found guilty, Tuy Savy could be sentenced to between 10 and 20 years in prison. A trial date has not yet been set.