KAMPONG Chhnang provincial court yesterday charged a 71-year-old man with raping his three grandchildren following his arrest on Sunday, officials said.

Sim Somphos, Kampong Chhnang’s deputy provincial police chief, said that Cheam Sorn was accused of raping the three girls – aged 11, 12 and 13 – who lived with him in Kampong Leng district.

“He persuaded them to sleep in his bed as grandfather and grandchildren, but in fact he raped them,” he said.

“He is not a human being.”

Cheam Sorn’s alleged transgressions came to light on Saturday, when the children’s mother noticed that her 12-year-old daughter was bleeding.

When she asked her daughter about it, she found out that the girl had been raped by her grandfather and filed a complaint, resulting in Cheam Sorn’s arrest on Sunday.

Sim Somphos said that during questioning, the man also admitted to raping the girl’s two sisters. The man reportedly told police he assaulted the 12-year-old for the first time on December 26, but said he had raped her sisters more than five times previously.

Kampong Leng district police chief Pa Sean alleged that one of the children slept in their grandfather’s bed every night in order to give the man a massage.

He said that until Saturday, the girls’ mother was not aware her daughters were being assaulted.

“The suspect gave the children 500 to 1000 riel every time he raped them in order to keep them quiet. One of the girls was even raped in front of her sisters,” Pa Sean alleged.