Little girl’s screams end rape by neighbor

Monday, 23 September 2013

A 20-year-old man has been jailed for 10 years for the rape of his young neighbour in the woods near her home.

At six-years-old, little Dara* should have been safe when she was walking to visit her grandmother in the Kampong Prak Korki commune, in Kampong Chhang Province one evening in January 2013.

Instead, when Dara was on half way to her grandmother’s home, her neighbour tried to coax her into the wood with him.

When she refused to go, he forcibly carried her into the wood, while Dara screamed and cried in his arms.

Holding her down on the ground, he undressed and raped her. He only stopped when Dara’s screams attracted attention and torchlight to the direction of the screaming.

Crying, Dara redressed and walked back to where her aunty was shining the torch.

She told her aunty what had happened and the aunt reported the matter to police, who contacted SISHA.

The little girl and her family were immediately provided with emergency aftercare and legal services to support them after the incident and through the court proceedings that followed.

The offender was found guilty after a trial on 16 September 2013 and was sentenced to 10 years in jail. He was also ordered to pay civil compensation of 6 million Riel (~US$1,497.)

Dara is much younger than the average age of victims of rape that SISHA has dealt with in recent years. The average age is 12-years-old.

However, the case unfortunately reflects a scenario that happens all too often, where young girls are sexually assaulted by people they know and trust – often a family member, friend or neighbour – in their own home or the surrounding fields or forest.

As well as providing legal support and emergency aftercare to victims, SISHA is committed to working with police and within the community to strengthen the criminal justice system as well as victim, social and legal support services.

* The victim’s name has been changed to protect her identity.