A 15-year-old monk was kicked out of a pagoda in Phnom Penh’s Pur Senchey district on Saturday after he allegedly raped a 5-year-old girl there last week, according to police, who said they are waiting for further evidence before arresting the boy.
The young monk, a relative of the pagoda chief, has yet to be defrocked but was taken to a new pagoda in Choam Chao commune on Saturday by officials from the municipal cults and religion department after the girl’s parents filed a complaint with police on Friday, police said.
Police are continuing to investigate and waiting to see the results of the girl’s medical examination before they arrest the monk, said Touch Phorn, deputy police chief of Pur Senchey district.
“Our police are searching for more evidence and so far we have not gotten the results of the inspection yet from the hospital,” Mr. Phorn said.
The young girl was playing at the Kouk Khsach pagoda in Phloeung Chheh Roteh commune on November 9 when the young monk allegedly grabbed her, took her into a storage room and raped her, according to commune police chief Ei Srun.
He said the victim’s 8-year-old brother saw her come out of the room crying with a pack of biscuits and a can of juice in her hand, allegedly given to her by the monk after he raped her, he said, adding that the brother took the girl home where she told her mother about the rape.
“We asked the girl twice and she still said the same thing about what the monk did to her,” Mr. Srun said, adding that the 15-year-old had only been a monk for a few months.
The girl’s parents waited until Friday to file a complaint with commune police because they had first attempted to negotiate for compensation with the family of the young monk, said Nob Urn, the victim’s grandfather.
“I just want the police to find justice for my granddaughter because she’s only 5 years old and she knows nothing,” he said.
