A monk was charged on Thursday with the attempted rape of a 9-year-old girl by the Kompong Speu Provincial Court, police said.
Sam Sak, chief of the provincial police’s serious crimes bureau, said the court charged and jailed 20-year-old Nuon Chanthorn after wrapping up questioning of the now-defrocked monk.
“The court issued an order to imprison the suspect this morning after questioning,” he said.
“He was charged with rape in accordance with articles 27, 239, and 241 of the criminal code, and we have now sent him to provincial prison.”
Mr. Chanthorn was arrested on Sunday for attempting to rape the girl in Samraong Tong district’s Thoammda Or commune.
At the time, commune police chief Ouk Phun said Mr. Chanthorn had been visiting a friend when he saw the girl playing with two other children outside the house next door.
When the two other children left to chase away cattle, he forced the girl inside the house and attempted to rape her but relented when she tried to fight him off.
Buddhist authorities defrocked Chanthorn that evening. Investigating Judge Yan Sopheap could not be reached for comment.
