A rubber plantation worker was arrested in Tbong Khmum province on Wednesday for raping his 11-year-old neighbor at her home earlier in the day, according to district police.
Korb Buntha, 23, attacked the girl after her parents left for work at a different rubber plantation before dawn and he saw her sleeping on the porch of her house in Tbong Khmum district’s Rokapoa Pram commune, district police chief Long Sarin said on Thursday.
“The suspect saw the girl asleep on the porch in front of the house. He came in, turned off the light and carried her into the house and raped her,” he said.
In the morning, Mr. Sarin said, the girl went to school as normal and only told her parents about the attack in the afternoon—when they noticed that her clothing was spotted with blood.
“This was a cruel act and very much against the law,” he said, adding that the suspect would be sent to court today.
Mr. Buntha was arrested by commune police on Wednesday evening and confessed to the crime after the girl identified him as her attacker, according to commune police chief Seng Mi.
“The suspect used to come in and out of their house frequently,” he said. “The victim recognized the offender because he used to visit them and seemed like a friend.”
In a separate case, police in Stung Treng City arrested a moto-taxi driver for allegedly raping his 14-year-old neighbor.
According to city police chief Chhouk Komal, 27-year-old Chan Noeun attacked the girl at 7 a.m. on Wednesday while she was bathing at the gas station where her mother works.
“The girl went to take a bath in the bathroom and the man noticed and secretly followed her,” Mr. Komal said, adding that the victim later told police that she was raped by the same man about a week earlier.
Police arrested Mr. Noeun at his home and sent him to the provincial court on Thursday, but he has not yet been charged, he said.
