A 13-year-old boy accused of allegedly raping a 7-year-old girl was placed in the custody of Battambang provincial social affairs department Wednesday, authorities said.
The boy allegedly forced himself on the girl on June 3 in a field while tending cattle in Kors Kralor commune, but the girl’s mother did not report the rape to police until Tuesday evening, acting district police chief Lay Nan said.
“The 7-year-old girl was scared her family would blame her” so she did not tell her family at first, he said, adding police began questioning the boy Wednesday.
“The 13-year-old boy confessed to raping the 7-year-old girl because he had watched pornography earlier in the day,” he said. “We sent the boy to provincial court after we questioned him for three hours.”
Battambang Deputy Prosecutor Long Hok Meng said the boy has not been charged and was placed in the custody of the provincial social affairs department. Under Cambodian law a minor under the age of 14 cannot be held in police custody.
“We ordered his family to find the birth certificate to confirm he is really 13-years-old,” Mr Hok Meng said.
Born Vannara, deputy chief of the provincial anti-human trafficking police, said the boy’s parents have lost their family book and so far have not been able to confirm his age.
“The provincial authorities are still waiting,” he said.
Chheng Sophors, senior investigator for the local rights group Licadho, said the case exemplified the phenomena of child rape in Cambodian society and the dangerous influence that pornography can have.
“It is a noticeable case that a young child raped another child, a sign of the falling moral culture,” he said.
Local rights group Adhoc recorded 113 child rapes from January to April and since then The Cambodia Daily has reported on 13 more child rapes.
