The trial of two men accused of murdering and raping two girls in Pursat province in 2009 began yesterday at the Court of Appeal.

Sem Douch and Horm Sothea were arrested in January 2009, a day after the bodies of the two girls were found hanging from a tree in Krakor district’s Svay Sar commune.

Four men were implicated in the crime, but two escaped, according to police documents.

Pursat Provincial Court threw out the case in October 2010, following Souch and Sothea’s lengthy pre-trial detention due to a lack of evidence connecting the two suspects to the crime.

The original prosecutor, Nget Sarat, told the Post yesterday that no eyewitnesses could connect the two men to the crime, and crime experts failed to collect fingerprints from the original crime scene. But he said that an appeal was filed the same day the two men were freed, leading to their re-arrest.

Presiding Judge Prak Chasombo confirmed the Douch and Sothea’s verdict would be handed down on October 31.