Three teenage boys aged 16 to 19 years were arrested Wednesday for their alleged part in the gang rape of a 17-year-old girl Sunday in the Kien Svay district of Kandal province.
The three were among eight youths who are suspected of raping the girl in a banana grove in Dey Ith commune as she made her way home from a funeral ceremony early Sunday morning, Kang Sambo, Kandal deputy provincial police chief, said Friday.
According to Kang Sambo, the victim was initially abducted and raped by a group of four boys. This group was later frightened away by a second group of four boys who found the victim and proceeded to rape her also. The victim, left unconscious and without clothes by her attackers, hid in the banana grove for two days without food or water before finally returning home Tuesday night, Kang Sambo said. All eight boys live locally and are known by the victim, Kang Sambo said.
“This act was very cruel. These boys were well known as trouble makers in the village,” Kang Sambo said. He said that a search is under way for the five other suspects.
The gang rape is the second reported to police in a week. On Monday police in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district arrested four youths for allegedly gang raping a 17-year-old girl. The youths, aged 18 to 21 years, were part of a group of eight boys who abducted the girl and raped her on waste ground in Stung Meanchey commune, Mee Sokhoeun, a police officer at the commune police post, said Friday.
Four youths tied up the girl’s boyfriend and another four took the girl to rape her, Mee Sokhoeun said. However, the girl’s boyfriend escaped his captors and notified police.
Police arrested the second group of four youths as they raped the girl, Mee Sokhoeun said. “The girl tried to get away from the gang but they had a knife and threatened to kill her if she shouted,” Mee Sokhoeun said.
