A 6-month-old girl is dead and her 3-year-old brother is receiving treatment after their mother allegedly strangled them with towels at their home in Siem Reap province’s Svay Leu district yesterday morning, according to deputy district police chief Soeng Meng.

Meng said the mother, Choen Pho, suffers from anxiety, for which a doctor had prescribed medication, and that the suspect’s mother told police that the family rarely left Pho alone with her children.

Director of the Child Protection Unit James McCabe said yesterday that neighbours rushed to the family home after hearing 6-month-old Lech Vanny and 3-year-old Lech Vanna screaming.

Neighbours arrived in time to save Vanna, who was resting in the district hospital yesterday evening but no longer in critical condition. Vanny was already dead when police arrived at the scene.

McCabe said Pho, 26, confessed, saying she was angry at her husband for not sending money home. Meng said the husband left to work in Poipet 11 days ago. “It’s just another situation of desperation and poverty,” he said.