Paternal Rape

PHNOM Penh Municipal Court has sentenced a Cambodian man to 15 years in prison for raping his daughter multiple times over a three-year period beginning in 2001, when she was 9 years old. Chey Sothy, 44, was arrested in October last year after his daughter, now 18, accused him of raping her at their home in Sen Sok district’s Khmuonh commune. Defence lawyer Neang Hay said at a closed-door hearing on June 17 that the victim fabricated the complaint. But Peng Maneth, a lawyer provided to the victim by child protection NGO Action Pour Les Enfants, hailed Friday’s sentence, saying it would serve to warn fathers against committing similar acts against their children.