A 16-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of raping a 3-year-old girl in an abandoned house in his home province of Kampong Speu last year.

The boy, who cannot be named, was apprehended at about 9:30am in Phnom Penh by a joint task force of police from the Ministry of Interior and the Child Protection Unit (CPU), working in coordination with Kampong Speu provincial police.

After allegedly raping the girl on December 2, the boy fled to Kampong Cham province before moving to the capital in January and taking up a job with a rice distributor, according to police officer Sy Phala.

“The father of the victim discovered he worked there and informed the police, so we went to arrest him there,” Phala said.

“There is no place in society for offenders that rape, abuse or kill children, and there is now a strong commitment from the Cambodian National Police to ensure that persons who commit such offenses will be bought to justice, regardless of the amount of time that passes or if they flee the jurisdiction,” the CPU said in a statement.

The suspect was transferred to the custody of Kampong Speu Provincial Court pending trial, Phala added.