Cambodia's 'jungle woman' offered trauma treatment and free medical care

Human rights groups fear that Cambodia's "jungle woman" is suffering from the spotlight cast on her since she emerged from the wild, and offered Monday to provide any needed medical and psychiatric treatment.

A family claims the woman is 27-year-old Rochom P'ngieng, who disappeared in the jungle of Cambodia's northeastern Rattanakiri province while herding water buffaloes when she was 8 years old.

The family claims she is their long lost daughter, based on a scar on her right arm from an accident that occurred before her disappearance from the remote village of Oyadao.

Their hut has drawn crowds of villagers and journalists, keen to see the woman whose family says she was found Jan. 13 walking like a monkey out of the jungle. She pats her stomach when hungry and uses animal-like grunts to communicate.

Licadho, a non-governmental human rights group, fears the woman is enduring trauma after returning to society and could have been a victim of abuse, said Kek Galabru, the group's president.

"We believe that this woman is a victim of some kind of torture, maybe sexual or physical," said Kek Galabru. Licadho has offered to pay travel expenses to bring the woman and the family to Phnom Penh, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) away, and to provide housing costs while she undergoes treatment in the capital.

Penn Bunna, an official at Adhoc, another Cambodian human rights group, says the constant flock of visitors is likely causing new stress for the woman. Adhoc has also offered to help fund medical and psychiatric treatment.

"She must have experienced traumatic events in the jungle that have affected her ability to speak," he said.

Since the woman is unable to speak, her identity remains unclear with many questioning if she is indeed Rochom P'ngieng.

Sal Lou, who claims to be the woman's father, has said he is willing to undergo DNA testing along with the woman "to clear any doubts that she is my child."