A 68-year-old man was arrested in Kompong Chhnang province on Tuesday on suspicion of raping an 8-year-old girl in July, a police official said Wednesday.
Srey Soda, deputy chief of the provincial police’s serious crimes bureau, said Uot Phoeun, a farmer from Boribor district’s Ponlai commune, was arrested at about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday after the girl’s parents filed a complaint with authorities earlier in the day.
Mr. Soda said Mr. Phoeun stands accused of raping the child at his house in July after luring her away from her grandparents’ home next door, where she had been staying while her parents were away for work in Stung Treng province.
“While the girl’s parents were outside the province, the suspect called the girl to visit his house, which is located near the girl’s grandmother’s house,” he said. “The suspect took the girl and raped her on his bed.”
The bureau chief said the case only came to light after the girl’s parents returned home last week and saw that their daughter was pale, then noticed that she had sustained injuries to her genitals.
The child told her parents what had happened when they asked about the wounds.
Mr. Soda said Mr. Phoeun admitted to raping his neighbor shortly after he was arrested and would be sent to the provincial court Thursday.
“He said he raped the girl because he could not control his feelings when he saw the girl alone,” he said. “The girl said the suspect raped her multiple times but the suspect claimed he raped the girl only one time.”
In a separate case, Nem Bunnang, 20, a former monk who was arrested and defrocked over the suspected rape of a 14-year-old girl in Kratie province’s Prek Prasap district on Sunday, was on Wednesday charged with rape of a minor and jailed, according to Huot Lim Heang, chief of the provincial police’s serious crimes bureau.
And in Stung Treng province, plantation worker Sim Sarey, 30, was on Wednesday charged over his alleged role in the gang rape of a 20-year-old woman last week, said Duong Sivutha, chief of the provincial police’s serious crimes bureau.
