Two people suspected of involvement in the abduction and rape of a 14-year-old girl who passed out while drinking bubble tea in Phnom Penh on Tuesday have been arrested, police said Thursday.
The teenager and Tey Ya, 21, were drinking bubble tea at a cafe across the street from the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital in Chamkar Mon district when the girl passed out and was transported to the Sok San Guesthouse in Tuol Kok district, where she was allegedly raped.
On Wednesday night, police arrested and questioned Ms. Ya, who lives in the same neighborhood as the victim, and Long Thea, 44, a motodop who took the two women to the guesthouse, said Phorn Aun, police chief in Chamkar Mon’s Tumnop Toek commune.
“We sent them to district police headquarters already, and now we are looking for the main suspect,” he said.
Mr. Aun said police were trying to determine whether Ms. Ya and Mr. Thea had actively colluded with the suspected rapist. Ms. Ya told police that the alleged rapist had ordered her to go to the bathroom while the rape took place, and beat her up when she tried to intervene, he said.
Mr. Aun added that Ms. Ya had filed her own complaint about both the alleged rape and assault at the Toek La’ak III commune police station in Prampi Makara district, where a suspect was detained—then released—after his mother paid 160,000 riel, or about $40, to resolve the assault claim.
“I don’t know why they solved the assault case but not the rape case,” he said.
Contacted Thursday, Toek La’ak III commune police chief Sin Bunry denied receiving any complaints related to either case or detaining a suspect, then hung up on a reporter.
Sem Sovann, 46, the victim’s mother, said her daughter spent Wednesday night at the hospital.
“I am very worried, and feel so sorry for my daughter after this bad thing happened to her,” she said.
