POLICE in Takeo province have arrested a 25-year-old man on suspicion that he raped a 6-year-old girl last Wednesday, a provincial police official said.

Deputy Chief Suon Pon said the suspect was arrested last Thursday and “is now detained, and the court is doing an investigation”.

“He raped a little girl, so his punishment will be serious.”

Hor Nead, the provincial coordinator for the rights group Adhoc, said the suspect had approached the victim’s house on Wednesday, looking for his brother. When he could not find his brother, Hor Nead said, the suspect asked the victim’s mother for permission to sleep in a hammock under the house. She said he could, then left to go watch TV at a friend’s house, at which point the suspect went into the house and took the 6-year-old girl to a nearby rice field to rape her, Hor Nead said.

He said he believes rape is on the rise in the province, but did not have recent statistics. Adhoc reported 460 rapes nationwide last year, 78.2 percent of which involved underage victims.