Drunk Man Rapes 15-Year-Old Live-In Maid

The owner of a Phnom Penh printing company was arrested on Saturday on accusations of raping a 15-year-old girl who had been working in his home as a maid, police said on Sunday.

The suspect, Buth Chanva, 32, was arrested at his home in Chbar Ampov district’s Prek Pra commune following a complaint made by the girl’s mother, according to district police chief Em Saravuth.

“We arrested him on Sunday at his house following the complaint, which accused him of raping a minor,” he said.

He said that the suspect is the owner of a local printing house, but he could not recall the name of the business.

Mao Soeut, the district deputy police chief who is leading the investigation, said the victim, who is originally from Kandal province, had been hired a year ago to work as a maid and care for Mr. Chanva’s children. Mr. Chanva paid her family a monthly sum in exchange for her labor.

He said that at around 3 a.m. on Saturday morning, Mr. Chanva allegedly arrived home after a night of heavy drinking, entered the room where the girl was sleeping with his children, and raped her while covering her mouth to silence her.

“She said the suspect looked like a drunk man,” Mr. Soeut said.

In the morning, the girl contacted her mother, who came to Phnom Penh and filed a police complaint against Mr. Chanva.

“At around 9 a.m., after we got the complaint from the victim’s mother, we came to arrest the suspect and brought him to be questioned,” he said. Mr. Chanva denied having raped the girl, and she was sent for an examination at the municipal referral hospital, but the results of the tests were not yet ready, he added.

Asked whether the suspect would also face legal consequences for having employed a child as a servant, Mr. Soeut said only that he would be sent to the municipal court today.

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