Cambodian dad reportedly chains son to tree as punishment for skipping school

Published March 30, 2012
FoxNews.com & AFP

Sok Thoeun, 40, reportedly chained his 13-year-old son to a tree as punishment for skipping school to play online games.

A father in Cambodia reportedly chained his teenage son to a tree to punish him for skipping school to go to play online games, police said Thursday.

The 13-year-old was chained to a tree by his neck for nearly two hours before neighbors called the police and a locksmith came to free him, AFP reports.

"The father was so angry that he found his son at an Internet cafe instead of at school that he chained him up in public for people to see, to teach him a lesson," Battambang deputy police chief Cheth Vanny told AFP.

The boy's father, Sok Thoeun, reportedly fled the scene after the incident. He is now wanted on child abuse charges.

"He is still on the run," an official told AFP. "This kind of torture is not acceptable."