A Chinese national convicted of raping a 17-year-old girl in Phnom Penh’s Meanchey district in 2012 has had his sentenced reduced dramatically by the Court of Appeal.

Yu Chintong was sentenced to seven years in prison for raping the girl at her house in Meanchey district’s Prek Thmey commune on December 15, 2012. He immediately fled to China, and was later arrested by police on his return to Cambodia.

Pol Samoeurn, presiding judge at the Appeal Court, said yesterday that the defendant’s sentence had been reduced to five years, of which he has already served 18 months.

The rest of his sentence has been suspended, he added.

“The answers of the victim and witnesses are not clear enough, so the court will change the charge from rape to attempted rape,” he said.

But Chea Nara, the victim’s attorney, said he would challenge the ruling.

“The sentence reduction has let him off the hook, and the suspect will be able to get out in a few months,” he said.