2 Farmers Rape Drunk 16yo After Offering Her Lift Home

Story BySimon GloverSub EditorJoseph GolderAgencyAsia Wire Report

Two 21-year-old farmers have been arrested for raping a 16-year-old girl after getting her drunk at a wedding and then offering her a lift home.

Police say Then Phalla and Thuon Sochea, both 21, met up with the teenager at a friend’s wedding and got her drunk.

All three were from Khyorng commune in the Chey Sen district of northern Cambodia’s Preah Vihear province.

Pictures Credit: AsiaWire

Colonel Team Sangkream, chief of Chey Sen district police, said they later offered the girl, who is also a farmer, a lift home on their motorbike.

He said: “As they drove away from the party, they instead brought her to a quiet and dark place in the commune. They took turns raping her starting with Mr Phalla.

“Afterwards, they dropped her off at her house and fled.”

The girl told her parents what had happened and her father reported the incident to police the next morning.

Cops arrested the pair in their homes and they have already appeared before Preah Vihear Provincial Court for an initial hearing.

Both have been charged with aggravated rape and face seven to 15 years in jail if they are convicted.

Western tourists are warned against visiting Preah Vihear province as it lies on Cambodia’s contested border with Thailand where tensions are said to be extremely high.