TWO men and a teenager were convicted of raping and murdering 11-year-old Morn Veasna and murdering her 12-year-old brother Morn Phea in Kampong Cham province’s Tbong Khmum district, police said.

Chin Vanny,17, Peng Sreang, 27, and Has Sreng, 29, were each sentenced to 17 years in prison and ordered to pay 45 million riels (US$10,800) in compensation to the victims’ families, Judge Kim Luy said Tuesday. The verdict was announced on October 28, he added.

Leang Eng, former deputy police chief of Tbong Khmum, said Tuesday that the attackers lived next door to the victims. who had been tending cows in a field in Rokab Pram commune in February when they were attacked.

According to court reports, the killers, who were intoxicated at the time, took turns raping the girl, then stabbed her and broke her neck. They were arrested the following day.

“It was a brutal act,” Leang Eng said. “The boy was also killed the same way as the girl.”

Brutal acts

In a separate case, the police are hunting for three more suspects connected to the gang rape and killing of a 11-year-old girl in Soung town in September, Leang Eng said. Seven of the 10 men involved have been arrested and are in pretrial detention.

Thov Chenda, provincial monitor of human rights group Adhoc, said that rape of underage girls in Kampong Cham province has increased.

“They even rape 4- and 5-year-old girls,” she said.

Between January and October, Adhoc monitored 25 rape cases, of which 20 involved underage victims.

“Rape suspects like to watch pornographic films and drink, so they can commit such brutal acts,” she said.