A high-school student appeared in court yesterday charged with raping a 16-year-old girl in Phnom Penh last year.

Yorng Sok Chamroeun, 18, and his friend, Ngeth Chamroeun, 19, both 12th-grade students at the Bak Touk High School, were charged with rape and being an accomplice in rape respectively.

Deputy prosecutor at Phnom Penh Municipal Court, Ek Chheng Huoth, said that Yorng Sok Chamroeun was arrested at the Spark entertainment complex in Chamkarmon district on May 20 last year following a complaint from the girl’s parents.

It is alleged he raped the schoolgirl on May 10, took pornographic pictures of her and extorted US$1,800 from her in order for the photos not to be made public.

The girl testified yesterday that she had gone with the student to Ngeth Chamroeun’s house, when she was given a cold drink.

“After drinking it, I felt very sleepy and I was brought by him into a room in the house. Because I was sleeping, I was then raped by him [Yorng Sok Chamroeun],” she said.

“I would ask him to return to me the US$1,800 and give me $20,000 in compensation for the loss of my purity and honour,” she said.

Yorng Sok Chamroeun denied the rape, saying that they had been regular sexual partners and had had consensual sex.

He also claimed the girl stole $1,800 from her parents in order to buy a motorbike for them to ride.

Ngeth Chamroeun has so far escaped arrest.