A Pursat man was arrested on Thursday for allegedly attempting to rape a 13-year-old and killing her when she screamed for help, then stabbing a man who tried to intervene, as well as his own fiancée after the attack.

James McCabe, director of the Child Protection Unit, said 22-year-old suspect Nguy Ey was arrested a few hours after the attack.

“[He] attempted to rape a 13-year-old. She called out for help, so he stabbed and killed her,” he said on Friday, adding that it was the fifth such attack this month.

Tann Kearith, acting Kravanh district police chief, said the suspect was “very cruel”.

“He stabbed himself after having killed the victim girl and having stabbed a man who helped the victim girl, and his fiancée, inflicting serious injury on them,” he said of Ey, who lived in Kravanh district’s Santre commune.

Kearith said the suspect had stabbed himself to make it seem like he was the one who was attacked, but that police had already been informed about the attack. He said the suspect was sent to court on Saturday afternoon after initially having been hospitalised at Pursat Provincial Hospital.

The man who came to help and the suspect’s fiancée remain in hospital in “serious but stable” condition, McCabe said.

Deputy Commune Police Chief Khun Chhath said that three relatives of the victim had witnessed the suspect’s attempt to rape the victim. When they tried to intervene, the suspect stabbed one in the stomach and ran away.

Chhath added that they found the suspect in his fiancée’s cottage. Both Ey and his 18-year-old fiancée were seriously injured, he said, and sent to Pursat hospital and Kravanh District Hospital, respectively.

“At the hospital, his fiancée told the police that she was stabbed by her fiancé [Ey] after she refused to run away with him without being married,” he said.

Chhay Hong, spokesman for the Pursat Provincial Court prosecutor, yesterday said that the suspect was charged with intentional murder and was sent to pre-trial detention after having left the hospital on Saturday. If convicted he could face life imprisonment.

Additional reporting by Leonie Kijewski