Sentence reduced

A teacher who repeatedly raped a teenage resident of the street children’s organisation Mith Samlanh in 2005 had his 12-year jail sentence reduced to seven-and-a-half years at the Phnom Penh Appeal Court yesterday.

Nhean Bora, 42, lured the 14-year-old girl and former street child into the organisation’s library and raped her three times. He then threatened to kill her if she told anyone. Bora was arrested immediately afterwards and convicted by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court in 2006.

He unsuccessfully appealed the sentence in 2009, but at a second appeal in 2010, the Supreme Court referred the matter to the Phnom Penh Appeal Court for a re-trial, which occurred yesterday. Bora will now be eligible for release this month. His lawyer, Kong Pitou, said that Bora had recognised and regretted his mistakes.

Mith Samlanh is a well-regarded organization for street children, started in 1994 by Friends International. An organisation spokesman was unavailable for comment yesterday.