The Appeal Court upheld hefty jail terms handed to three women found guilty of sex trafficking yesterday.

In 2010, Phnom Penh Municipal Court found that Sok Sre Nga from Kandal province’s Sa’ang district, 49, with the help of her 26-year-old daughter Phat Sokly, had sold her 15-year-old adopted daughter to Siem Reap massage parlour owner Yoeung Thy Lin, 47.

The court yesterday upheld the 15-year sentences handed to the mother and daughter for buying, selling or exchanging a person for trafficking.

Yoeung Thy Lin, convicted for the same offence as well as procuring a person for child prostitution, also had her appeal of a 17-year sentence rejected.

All three professed their innocence yesterday.

“[She] was my adopted daughter. I have sent her to work and live with Yoeung Thy Lin because I wanted her to study Khmer literature there,” Sok Sre Nga told the court.

Court documents allege Yoeung Thy Line bought the minor in 2009 for US$500 and forced her to have sex with two men before she ultimately fled.

To contact the reporter on this story: Buth Reaksmey Kongkea at [email protected]