A young woman is fighting for her life after she was allegedly raped and viciously beaten by an 18-year-old man in Battambang on Sunday night.

Thma Koul district police chief Phong Sopheap said yesterday that the 18-year-old victim was with her 7-year-old sister at their Tapon commune home while their parents were out hunting for insects when she was attacked.

“We have arrested Math Poeun, 18. After we questioned him, he confessed that he raped her,” Sopheap said.

“On the night, he called the girl and told her that he wanted to come over, but the girl said no. But he still came and asked to sleep with the victim, but the victim refused.”

Sopheap said the perpetrator then “got angry”, and hit the victim with a spade, forcing her to the ground.

He then allegedly raped her and used the spade and a stick to beat her, before fleeing the scene.

“The suspect tried to kill her in order to get rid of the evidence,” Sopheap said.

Police said the victim was lucky to be alive, and was rushed to the emergency department at the Battambang provincial referral hospital where she remains in a critical condition.

The crime comes a day after an 11-year-old girl was allegedly raped and murdered by her neighbour in Siem Reap on Saturday, and follows a slew of violent rape cases across Cambodia in the past month.