The Sihanoukville Municipal Court on Saturday charged a 15-year-old boy with raping and killing a 12-year-old girl, officials and a human rights worker said Sunday.
The suspect has confessed to the crimes and is in pre-trial detention in the municipal prison, Judge Svay Sisaruth said.
The suspect was arrested Friday by military police at his school in Prey Nop district’s Choeung Kor commune after the victim’s mother told the police that the suspect had attempted to rape her daughter a few days earlier.
The victim’s body was found in Honou Roum village Friday morning in a pond about 300 meters from her house, after she had gone missing the day before, local military police commander Kim Than said by telephone Sunday.
The incident occurred while the girl’s parents were not home, Kim Than said, adding that the victim’s neck was bruised. Kim Than said the suspect probably choked her to death while holding her under water.
“It is a brutal and terrible case that the suspect raped and killed this girl,” said Cheab Sothary, coordinator for local human rights group Adhoc.
Cheab Sothary said she would like the court to sentence the suspect to the full extent of the law and make an example of this case to deter other would-be offenders.
