Family Issues

A 44-year-old man pleaded not guilty in Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Thursday to raping his daughter, telling judges the 18-year-old was a “gangster” out to punish him for beating her. Chea Sothy was arrested in Sen Sok district last October after his daughter filed a complaint against him, accusing him of raping her multiple times over a three-year period beginning in 2001. Neang Hay, Chea Sothy’s defence lawyer, said Thursday that his client had never raped the girl. “He beat her for trying to have a relationship with a married man over the phone in 2009, so she ran to the police to complain that he raped her,” he said. But Peng Maneth, a lawyer for the girl provided by Action Pour Les Enfants, said Chea Sothy had wrongfully accused her of being a “gangster”, and that the only evidence presented was “his lies”. No verdict date has been set.