A man will be sent to court today for the alleged rape of two underaged girls in the capital’s Choam Chao commune, authorities said yesterday.

Deputy director of criminal investigation for Por Sen Chey district Kit Vannak said the suspect, Huth Chanthea, 33, was a fishmonger at Canadia market. He was arrested last month after the families of the girls, aged 5 and 10, filed a complaint against him.

The girls lived near Huth Chanthea, and often played outside his rented house with his son, who was about 10 years old, Kit Vannak said.

The girls claimed they were invited into the suspect’s house on separate occasions and raped. Vice-director of women and children at Adhoc Lim Mony said the number of rape cases remained about the same for 2011 and 2010, when about 500 cases were reported.