A 48-year-old man was arrested on Friday evening for raping a 12-year-old girl that afternoon in Battambang province, local police said.
The suspect, Seng Vanny, allegedly raped the girl while her parents were out working in a bean field that he owned, according to district deputy police chief Ros Limseun.
Knowing her parents were away, Mr. Vanny went to the family home and found the girl reading a book and caring for a younger sibling.
“The suspect invited the girl to work at his bean field so she could buy a necklace and earrings to wear, but the victim refused to go,” explained Mr. Limseun. “Then the suspect grabbed her by the hand and raped her.”
After the rape, Mr. Vanny fled the scene and the girl ran to the bean field to tell her father about the attack.
“She asked her dad not to tell anyone because the suspect had said that if she told anyone he would cut her throat,” he said.
Police were alerted and arrested Mr. Vanny, who admitted to having touched the girl’s genitals but denied raping her.
The girl, who was injured during the rape, was sent for treatment to a clinic run by the Reproductive Health Association of Cambodia.
