Rapist sentenced to six years and fined one million riel

Monday, 26 March 2012

A Cambodian man has been sentenced to 6 years jail and fined one million (KHR) for raping an underage girl in Battambang Province, Cambodia in October 2008.

The offender Soy Sin, 42, was a neighbor of the victim, living in the same village of the Prey Trorlach Commune, Muorng District, Battambang. He allegedly broke into the girl’s house while her parents were out and raped her before threatening her life if she told anyone about the incident.

Physically and psychologically traumatised, the girl went straight to a trusted neighbor and told them about what had happened.  The neighbor told the girl’s parents and they made a complaint to local police. The offender was arrested the next day and was later positively identified by the victim.

Battambang police contacted SISHA to provide legal support for the family, and SISHA has been closely monitoring the case as well as providing legal and logistical support to the victim and her family over the years of the trial leading to this conviction.

The Ministry of Women’s Affairs last month reported that it had documented a total of 431 cases of rape in 2011, 39 of which involved children less than 15 years of age.

ECPAT’s yearly ‘Database Report on Sexual Trafficking, Exploitation and Rape in Cambodia’ recorded 539 cases of rape in 2010 and found that only 10 percent of all reported rape cases attain convictions.

Photo: ‘Battambang Countryside’ by Matthew Klein

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