Takeo provincial police are currently searching for a man accused of raping his 4-year-old niece, authorities said yesterday.

On Tuesday night, Heng Vannarith, 30, of Takeo’s Samrong district, allegedly grabbed his niece as she walked to her grandmother's house – which is next door to his – and raped her on a bed in front of his house, said Samrong district police chief Meoung Sarun.

“He covered her mouth so they could not hear her screams,” Sarun said yesterday. “The man fled after he raped his niece, but we got information that he is hiding in Phnom Penh, and we are cooperating with the Ministry of Interior and police officials in the capital.”

The victim was taken to Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital in Phnom Penh for treatment of her injuries from the attack, Sarun said. The physical injuries she suffered were not severe, he added.

A 16-year-old defendant in a separate case in Battambang province was not able to evade police, and was charged in provincial court yesterday for raping a 10-year-old neighbour in the province’s Mong Russey district, said district police chief Keo Sokhom.

Police arrested the teen on Tuesday, the same day the complaint was filed. However, the crime occurred May 27, Sokhom said.

“The victim did not immediately tell her parents, because the perpetrator said he would kill her if she did,” Sokhom said.