Half-human, half-animal: return

[spindrifter]

of the girl who was lost in the wild for 18 years

The Times January 19, 2007

Nick Meo

To the man who insists that he is her father, there is no doubt that the filthy, naked woman caught stealing rice from loggers in the jungle like a wild animal is the daughter he gave up as lost 18 years ago.

The woman, found last Saturday in a remote area in Cambodia, has long, matted hair, grunts and screams instead of speaking and has a hunted expression and a fear of people.

But Ksor Lou said that he instantly recognised the daughter he had last seen when she was 8. The girl, Ro Cham H’pnhieng, had been herding buffalo in the jungle when she vanished in 1989. Mr Ksor always believed that she had been killed by wild animals.

<snip>

Sketchy reports from the remote area suggest that the woman lived wild and alone for years. But according to another report yesterday she had been with a naked male companion, who was armed with a machete when she was caught. She had marks on her arm from being bound, suggesting that she might have been kidnapped and kept for years as a slave.

<more>

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2554907,00.html

++++++++
"Sketchy," indeed! It is pretty weird that she apparently has no language skills, though she disappeared when she was about 8, especially if she did have a human companion.

[Sal Minella]

1. Bush could speak English when he was governor of Texas but look at his language skills

now, after only one-third as long (six years, not 18) in the wilds of Washington.

[spindrifter]

2. Too true--I had forgotten

about the Bush-effect, a recently discovered language loss phenomenon.

[Gabi Hayes]

3. Picture just up

[barb162]

4. oh that poor woman

She might not be talking as no one talked to her. If all that happened to her was beatings and rape, I could see where she'd be traumatized beyond belief.