Man arrested for rape, murder of kids

THE man suspected of raping a 10-year-old girl and then killing her and her two-yearold brother on Wednesday in Preah Sihanouk province was arrested on Sunday in Prey Veng province by authorities from the Ministry of Interior’s criminal police department in collaboration with the Prey Veng provincial serious crime office.

Ngeng Chou, the head of the Minist r y of Inter ior’s cr i mina l police department, told The Post t hat at around 2pm on Sunday, the suspect and his wife were detained in Mesang district’s Prey Romdeng commune in Prey Veng province.

The suspect repor ted ly soug ht ref uge on t he roof a house before

he was f inally detained.

Chou was unable to provide the names of the two suspects.

“The criminal department will take the suspects to the ministry first before sending them to Preah Sihanouk province, where the crime took place. The suspects have not arrived yet, so I don’t know their names,” he said.

Veasna Sam Oun, Chres commune police chief in Prey Veng province’s Mesang district, who was involved in the operation to arrest the suspects, told The Post on Sunday that the primary suspect is a 26-year-old man.

He said although he was not the chief of police in Prey Romdeng commune where the suspects were living, he spent three days on the operation and cooperated with other authorities to locate the couple.

“The commune is where the suspect lives. After the incident in Preah Sihanouk, he escaped and stayed hidden in his home.

“I was collaborating with the Ministr y of Interior’s criminal investigat ion depart ment a nd spent t hree days investigating before arresting the suspect and his wife,” he said.

The official Facebook page of the Child Protection Unit (CPU) – a joint initiative with the National Police to bring child abusers to justice – posted on Sunday: “Excellent work by all Task Force Members and Cambodian National Police, Ministry of Interior, Sihanoukville and Prey Veng Police Commands and all who helped make this arrest happen.”

Neither the police nor CPU officials would elaborate at this early stage.

Kol Phally, the Preah Sihanouk provincial deputy police chief in charge of serious crimes, told The Post on Sunday that the police had detained the husband and that he was currently being questioned by the Ministry of Interior’s criminal police before being sent to Preah Sihanouk province.

“I cannot give you details regarding his detention because the suspects have not been sent to my province yet,” he said.

The 10-year-old girl was raped on Wednesday, and she and her twoyear-old brother, who was sleeping in the same house, were both killed in a brutal attack in Preah Sihanouk province’s Prey Nop district that the CPU called “beyond words”.

“The girl was raped before she was killed. After that, [the suspect] jumped on the boy’s body [repeatedly] to kill him,” Phally said.