Two 15-year-old girls were gang-raped by as many as nine men after attending a Khmer New Year dance party in Kandal province’s Sa’ang district, police said.
The victims said that prior to the attack April 16 they had been dancing with the men, who were between 18 and 25 years old, district police chief Maing Pich said Wednesday.
The victims and their attackers are from the same village in Prek Ambel commune, Maing Pich said.
The group started the night dancing just outside their village, Maing Pich said, and at about midnight the men took four female guests to another outdoor site where the attack occurred. Two of the women were able to escape, but the 15-year-olds were trapped, Maing Pich said.
Two men allegedly raped one girl and seven men allegedly raped the other, he added.
Maing Pich said that police arrested one suspect, Nhiek Ratha, 22, at his home on April 18. He has confessed to taking part in the attack and is now in the provincial prison, he said, adding that police are searching for eight other suspects.
Kandal Provincial Court Deputy Prosecutor Keot Sovannaret confirmed that Nhiek Ratha was charged with rape.
