A tax officer in Ratanakkiri province was allegedly caught raping a 19-year-old woman at the branch office in Banlung City on Thursday night and arrested the same day, a police official said Monday.
Banlung City deputy police chief Teng Savuth said the alleged victim’s uncle, who also works at the office, caught debt collector Prak Savorn, 50, attacking his niece just before 7 p.m.
“During that night, when the victim was cleaning the office alone in a big room of the tax branch, the suspect entered the room and…beat her once in the stomach and then he raped her,” Mr. Savuth said, adding that the alleged victim was not an employee of the branch but occasionally cleaned her uncle’s office.
“When [the uncle] came back in the office, he saw the accused raping the victim and then the accused stopped and said sorry to the victim,” Mr. Savuth said. According to Mr. Savuth, the uncle then alerted police and took his niece to the provincial referral hospital.
Mr. Savorn’s lawyer, Mao Sary, said his client was charged with rape on Saturday and placed in pretrial detention.
Provincial court Judge Eng Chamnab said the case was under investigation and declined to comment.
