A 27-year-old man was charged by the Kandal provincial court on Saturday with the rape and kidnapping of a 17-year-old female student.

Koh Thom district police officer Kim Saroeun told the Post yesterday that police arrested pig farmer Peng Sovanna, 27, last Thursday after receiving a complaint from the girl’s parents saying she had been missing since June 10.

“He knew the victim by telephone,” Saroeun said, adding that the pair had increasingly frequent phone contact after Sovanna rang the victim’s number by accident.  

“He contacted her and lured her to visit his home at his pig farm in the village, and forcibly raped her. After raping her, he locked her inside his room, and continued to rape her for a period of three days.

“After three days of raping and detaining her, he brought her [via motorbike] to her house and was immediately arrested by our police there,” he added, noting police had been tipped off after the parents’ complaint.

After being questioned at the police station, Sovanna denied the accusation, claiming he and the girl were in love and engaged only in consensual sex, Saroeun said.

Sovanna was sent to the provincial prison yesterday for pre-trial detention. Sovanna and his defence lawyers as well as the victim and her parents could not be reached for comment.