A 30-year-old man was arrested in Prey Veng province’s Popoes commune on Tuesday over the rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl.

Svay Anthor district police chief Ung Phan said yesterday that suspect Try Kimchheang had allegedly lured the victim, Chan Sokhim, away from her younger sister by asking her to help him forage for honey.

According to James McCabe, director of the NGO-backed Child Protection Unit (CPU) which assisted in the investigation, Sokhim was found at 4pm on Tuesday partially undressed in bushes 200 metres from where she was last seen with the alleged assailant.

Phan said yesterday that while the suspect had yet to confess to police, there were scratch marks on his neck and hand, adding that the suspect had not denied raping the girl either.

“Forensic tests show that the victim was raped. I think she was killed because the suspect wanted to get rid of the evidence and was afraid of a complaint [by the victim],” Phan said. “The victim was strangled.”

McCabe said yesterday that Kimchheang had admitted to the crime when the CPU, National Police forensics and CID officers went to take his DNA samples.

He said that the CPU had dealt with 16 child murders since the year began, up from 13 during the same period last year.