Kratie Provincial Court on Sunday charged a 51-year-old man with “child sexual abuse” under Article 239 of the Criminal Code after allegedly raping his four nieces repeatedly since 2014.

Kratie provincial anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection deputy police chief Nov Ratana said on Sunday that Chheng Lymeng, from Prek Prasap district, had been charged and placed in pre-trial detention.

He faces between five and 10 years in prison if found guilty.

Ratana said the four girls – aged 12, 14, 15 and 17 – had lived with their uncle by marriage since they were young as their parents were too poor to support them.

The suspect, a farmer, is married with three children.

Ratana said Lymeng would sometimes bring the girls to a hut on his farmland and rape them.

“The suspect sometimes raped the girls at their home and sometimes at his hut,” she said.

She said the 17-year-old was allegedly first raped by her uncle in 2014, with him threatening to kill her and her younger sisters if she told anyone.

However, she filed a complaint with Prek Prasap commune police after seeing Lymeng rape her youngest sister.

Police brought the suspect in for questioning, where he admitted raping the girls.