No arrest warrant has been issued, but court and police officials claimed Monday they are pushing ahead with the case against Ouk Sopy, a 25-year-old primary school teacher in Kratie province who his accused of sexually abusing five of his students.
The parents of two of the five girls accused the teacher June 20 of raping their 8-year-old daughters. Local human rights group Adhoc criticized the slow progress of the cases in a complaint filed Friday at the provincial court.
Kratie Provincial Prosecutor Mak Tany acknowledged Monday that as of now, he has insufficient evidence to build a case.
“It hurts my personal feelings as a human,” he said. “We cannot forgive such criminal acts.”
Mak Tany said he ordered police Monday to investigate the alleged rape cases as fast as possible so the court can issue an arrest warrant.
Keo Srey Sey, chief of the provincial anti-trafficking police, said that a possible third rape victim has been identified and he plans to submit all the cases to the court today.
“It was not a purposeful delay, but we have been waiting for the medical examination papers” from the provincial hospital, Keo Srey Sey said.
“The doctors’ results show both were raped,” he added.
“We encouraged the [third] victim’s parents to file a complaint,” he said.
The father of one of the victims claimed by telephone Monday that the two families who first filed complaints rejected offers of $50 each by Ouk Sopy’s parents in exchange for dropping the charges.
“We want the law to take action against him,” he said.
