Tough education: Father ties son to a tree after he fled school to play games

March 30, 2012

An angry Cambodian father punished his son for skipping school to play computer games by chaining him by the neck to a powerline pole.

Motorbike taxi driver Sok Thoeun, 40, spotted his son in an internet cafe in the northern town of Battambang playing online games when he should have been in class.

Mr Thoeun was so outraged he decided to ‘teach his son a lesson’ by publicly humiliating him by chaining him by the neck to a thick wooden powerline pole.

Mr Thoeun’s punishment is similar to the ancient use of stocks, which immobilized its victims in a public place, exposing them to the scorn and ridicule of passers-by.

But the 13-year-old’s public ordeal came to an end in less than two hours after neighbours alerted the police who brought in a locksmith to free the child.

Battambang deputy police chief Cheth Vanny said: ‘The father was so angry when 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.’

Mr Thoeun, who also beat his son, is now wanted on child abuse charges.

Mr Vanny added: ‘He is still on the run. This kind of torture is not acceptable.’

Source: Daily Mail.