A teenage boy sentenced to prison on Monday for raping a 6-year-old girl claimed the attack was motivated by pornographic movies, a factor that police and rights groups said is increasingly cited in rape cases.
Ros Sophat, 16, told Battambang Provincial Court that he raped his niece on three occasions since June. He was caught after the last attack at the victim’s house in Battambang district’s Svay Por commune, Kampong Krabei village, said Hong Chansokha, a lawyer with the NGO Protection of Juvenile Justice, which represented the victim.
“Ros Sophat confessed that he watched pornographic movies every day at a coffee shop in Battambang town. He raped his niece in order to experience the event he saw in pornographic movies,” Hong Chansokha said.
Ros Sophat was sentenced to five years in prison.
Hong Chansokha said that in nearly all of the rape cases he has prosecuted, perpetrators have said pornography played some role in motivating the attackers.
Khiev Chhoeuth, chief of Battambang provincial police’s Juvenile Protection Section, also said pornographic movies, which are illegal to show or view in public in Cambodia, were a contributing factor to the nationwide increase in rape in recent years.
Though Khiev Chhoeuth said police have barred pornography from all restaurants, hotels and cafes, some believe poor police work, rather than pornography, is more to blame for the increase in rape cases as perpetrators frequently go unpunished.
Ly Sunlina, women’s rights coordinator for the rights group Licadho, said Tuesday that perpetrators were using pornography as an excuse for their crimes.
“Other countries also show [pornographic movies and images], but why aren’t those countries as seriously affected by rape as Cambodia?” she asked.
Weak law enforcement plays a much larger role than pornography in rape, she said.
