Man held for rape of teenager in K Speu
THE Kampong Speu provincial police on Thursday sent a man to court for allegedly raping a 13-year-old girl in June.
The man was arrested Wednesday after the Criminal Police Department at the Ministry of Interior collaborated with the provincial police in Por Sen Chey district in Phnom Penh. The alleged rape took place in the province’s Samrong Tong district.
Ministry of Interior’s deputy crime department chief Cheav Vibol told The Post on Thursday that the suspect was identified as a 54-year-old man.
“After the suspect was arrested, I brought him in for questioning at the department and then handed him over to the Kampong Speu provincial police because it is the one to handle the case,” Vibol said.
Provincial police chief Sam Samuon said the man was arrested on a warrant.
Trapaing Kong commune police chief Yoan Sorn said on Thursday that the parents of the girl had gone to work and left her with her grandmother. Around noon on June 5 the girl was bathing when the suspect dragged her out and raped her.
Citing the girl’s testimony, the police said that after raping her, the suspect threatened her by saying that if she told anyone he would kill her.
The grandmother sensed something was wrong with the girl and questioned her. The girl gave a full account of the story to the grandmother.
According to the girl’s grandmother, she did not file a complaint with the Trapaing Kong commune police station because attempts were made to reconcile the matter with the family of the offender.
When the negotiation failed to reach a consensus the grandmother filed a complaint with the police station to arrest the offender.
“The girl’s grandmother had a week to bring a legal case to me because she didn’t reconcile,” Sorn said.
Sorn added that after the police had received the complaint from the grandmother, he arrived at the scene to call the suspect in for questioning.
But the suspect escaped before then, and he reported the offence and sent it to the provincial police station, after which the provincial court issued an arrest warrant for him.
He said the police had arrested the suspect based on the arrest warrant. The court is expected to send the suspect to prison under pre-trial detention.