Sex Crime

Kratie provincial officials on Thursday arrested and charged a man with the rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl whose body was found hanging from a tree in the forest near her home on March 30. Keo Samnang, 19, was arrested Thursday and sent to provincial court the next day. He was accused of raping and murdering the girl on March 28. Provincial prosecutor Chat So Reasmey said the man is being held at Kratie provincial prison. “He was sent to provincial prison for further investigation,” she said. Thim Narin, provincial coordinator for the rights group Adhoc, said the number of rape cases in Kratie had not been calculated for the month of May. But in April, she said that she had counted seven rape cases for the first four months of the year, compared to just three for the same period in 2009.