Phnom Penh Municipal Court charged a 68-year-old Swiss man with debauchery on Saturday after police arrested him for allegedly having sex with a 13-year-old girl, officials said Sunday.
Hurni Hans Ulrich is slated to be transferred from the municipal anti-trafficking police station to Prey Sar prison today, said Sok Roeun, the court’s deputy prosecutor.
Police arrested Ulrich at the Asia Hotel on Monivong Boulevard in the company of his alleged victim on Thursday, said Keo Thea, deputy director of the municipal anti-human trafficking police.
“During the raid on his hotel room we found a naked underage girl inside the room. We accused him of debauchery after we interrogated him,” Keo Thea said.
Ulrich has told police that he had been having sex with the girl for two years, and that he paid her $5 to $10 each time, Keo Thea said.
“The victim confessed that he had sex with the girl since she was 11 years old,” Keo Thea said. The girl is in the care of an NGO in Phnom Penh.
The victim’s 48-year-old mother Nheim Heng, a candy seller in front of the Royal Palace, has told police that she treated Ulrich as a relative and that he regularly gave her money, Keo Thea said. Nheim Heng claims not to know what Ulrich was doing with her young daughter and is not a suspect, Keo Thea added. “She did not know that the man was having sex with her daughter,” Keo Thea said.
He added that Ulrich was visiting Cambodia for the third time. Police had been watching Ulrich for two years, but had been unable to arrest him because he slipped discretely in and out of the county, Keo Thea said.
Staff at the Asia Hotel said Sunday that no one was available for comment on the case, though police said the hotel is assisting in the investigation.
The case is not related to the arrest last month of two German men for their alleged role in a child pornography ring, Keo Thea said.
