A farmer was arrested at his house in Tbong Khmum province’s Ponhea Krek district on Tuesday afternoon for raping his 5-year-old neighbor just two hours earlier, a police official said Wednesday.
Chak Sok Kao, acting chief of the provincial police’s serious crimes bureau, said district police apprehended Chheng San, 49, at his home in Krek commune at about 3 p.m. on Tuesday after receiving a complaint from the girl’s parents.
Mr. Sok Kao said Mr. San raped the child at her house at about 1 p.m. while her parents were out working on a rubber plantation.
“The suspect was drunk and raped the victim once.
He claimed that it wasn’t rape, that he only touched her chest and her body,” but an examination at the provincial referral hospital showed that the girl had been raped, he said.
Mr. Sok Kao said the speedy response of local police was thanks to neighbors of the girl, who heard her crying and hurried to get her parents.
He said the child was unable to vocalize what had been done to her, but pointed to her genitals and then to the home of Mr. San.
