Kandal provincial court sentenced two men on Monday to prison in separate cases of sexual assault against young girls.
Presiding Judge Chey Sovann sentenced Um Van, 82, to two years imprisonment for molesting a 10-year-old girl.
Um Van had originally been charged with raping the girl in August 2004 in Ang Snoul district, but the charge was reduced after the victim’s family dropped the complaint. Also prompting the reduction was a finding by the doctor who examined the victim and determined her virginity was still intact, said Chheng Phat, Kandal court chief prosecutor.
When the court asked Um Van why he wanted to rape the girl, he replied that he “was absent- minded at the time without thinking anything,” Chheng Phat said.
He gave money to the girl following the molestation, Chheng Phat added.
Prison guard Pok Virak, who carried the trembling suspect to the courtroom, said Um Van “is very old and not healthy at all.”
In a separate hearing, presiding Judge Teng Ratana convicted Dib Phan, 33, to two years in prison for the sexual assault of a 17 year-old girl.
He was originally charged with rape following the Nov 5, 2004, crime, but he did not complete the act, the judge said.
Teng Ratana said the suspect attempted to rape the girl at a plantation in Khsach Kandal district, but he only undressed and kissed her.
Dib Phan said after the hearing that the victim’s family had accused him of rape after a dispute with his family, he said.
The court did not order the suspects to pay compensation in either case because the victims’ families did not demand it.
