Six-Year-Old Girl Raped by Family Friend in Battambang Plantation

A 26-year-old man was arrested on Sunday for the rape of a 6-year-old girl in Battambang province’s Samlot district, police said Monday.

The incident is the latest re­ported case of child rape this year, after a 2-year-old and an 8-year-old were raped last week.

Thy Thai, a friend of the child’s father, was arrested shortly after the attack and is due to be sent to the provincial court for questioning on Wednesday, according to Chet Vanny, provincial deputy police chief.

“He raped the 6-year-old girl at about 3 p.m. [Sunday] in a cassava plantation in…Ta Tork commune,” Mr. Vanny said. “We got a complaint from the girl’s family.”

Following Mr. Thai’s arrest, he told police that he had been drinking with the victim’s father and after getting drunk, had taken the girl outside, promising to take her for a ride on his motorcycle.

He then drove the child to a cassava plantation, where he at­tacked her, Mr. Vanny said.

“The suspect covered the victim’s mouth and used his hands to abuse her too,” he said.

The victim’s 12-year-old sister happened upon the attack and called for help.

“After that the suspect tried to escape by riding his motorcycle to Pailin province, which is his homeland, but he was arrested by Pailin provincial police on the evening of the same day,” Mr. Vanny said.

“He had drank about two liters of rice wine before he raped the girl,” Mr. Vanny said.

Seng Luch, chief of the provincial serious crime bureau, said the suspect has denied raping the girl, admitting only that he attempted to rape her.

But the results of tests carried out on the girl at the district referral hospital indicate that she was in fact raped, he said.

“The suspect and the victim’s family have known each other for about one year, and the suspect always came to visit this family,” Mr. Luch said.

This case is the latest in a long line of such crimes committed against children.

According to rights group Adhoc, there were 140 cases of child rape reported in the first nine months of the year, approximately two-thirds of the total number of rape cases recorded by the organization during that period.

In three child rape cases, the children were also murdered.

The NGO Legal Support for Children and Women said about 60 percent of rape victims in Cambodia are minors.

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