Russey Keo district police on Monday sent two men to Phnom Penh Municipal Court over the alleged rape of a reportedly mentally ill woman.

District police chief Kol Yi told The Post on Monday that the two suspects had been identified as construction workers Cheav Sina, 24, and Thuong Lay Him, 21.

“The police have finished interrogating them and they have been sent to court following legal procedure,” Yi said.

Norng Sarbong, Russey Keo district’s Tuol Sangke commune police chief, told The Post that after the incident on Sunday, police took the victim to a clinic for an examination.

A doctor was not there, so he asked the victim to wait for one to arrive. However, the victim did not do so and went home without being examined.

“On the day of the incident, I took the victim for a medical examination to confirm she had been sexually assaulted. I asked the victim’s family to again take her for a medical examination,” he said.

Sarbong said the victim’s mother filed a complaint with police, claiming the two suspects had raped her daughter.

The victim identified the suspects to her mother and the police.

Sarbong said the suspects denied the allegation during questioning.

At the crime scene, an abandoned house, police did not find any evidence aside from discarded underwear which may have belonged to one of the suspects.

The younger brother of the victim said he saw Sina raping his sister with Lay Him naked nearby.

The brother shouted for help from his neighbours and the suspects fled the scene, but the neighbours gave chase and kicked and punched the two men before police arrived.

According to National Police, Sina suffered a head injury in the attack, while Lay Him’s urine tested positive for drugs.

The victim was reported to have been a former drug user, which the family said caused her mental problems. However, she has not been certified as mentally ill.