In what marks the second reported rape and murder of a child this year, a 29-year-old man was arrested on Sunday for allegedly raping and killing a 9-year-old girl in Kompong Speu province’s Samroang Tong district, provincial penal police chief Svay Yoeun said yesterday.
“We arrested suspect Hun Chorb, 29, at home in Chbar Mon city’s Sopoar Tep commune, where the suspect returned after committing the alleged rape and murder, and we sent him to court” on Monday morning, Mr Yoeun said yesterday.
The suspect is a cousin of the victim, Kern Marady. He allegedly tricked her into wandering away from a village post-harvest celebration on Saturday night.
“The suspect confessed that at around 8:30 or 9 pm he tricked the victim and raped her and then, because he was scared the story would get out, he strangled her neck until she died,” Mr Yoeun said.
The girl’s parents discovered her body under a palm tree the next morning and immediately complained to police, saying that they suspected their relative of the crime.
Kompong Speu Provincial Court charged Mr Chorb on Monday with premeditated murder and the rape of a minor, and he is currently in pretrial detention, according to Mr Yoeun.
Rath Thavy, a provincial coordinator for local rights group Adhoc, said yesterday that authorities should spend more time educating villagers about violent crime and rape.
“It is a brutal thing that this suspect committed rape and killed a 9-year-old girl,” Mr Thavy said.
In a separate case, the Siem Reap Provincial Court on Monday charged a 19-year-old man, Kong Hath, with the rape of a minor for allegedly raping a 7-year-old girl in Siem Reap town on Saturday night.
Mr Hath, an uncle of the victim, was arrested on Sunday morning, according to provincial anti-human trafficking police chief Sun Bunthon.
The suspect got drunk at a friend’s house prior to driving to the victim’s home and allegedly raping her, Mr Bunthon said. After the rape, the girl told her father what had happened and he filed a complaint with police.
“The suspect confessed that he raped the girl after getting drunk and going back to her house to watch pornography on his phone which made him feel like having sex,” Mr Bunthon said.
In January, a 9-year-old girl was found dead in Kratie province after having been raped and killed with a blow to the head. This follows a nationwide uptick in reported rape cases in 2009, including an increase in the rape of minors, according to statistics compiled by rights group Adhoc.
