A 41-year-old man was charged yesterday with the rape of his 12-year-old stepdaughter in Kratie’s Snuol district on Sunday, while a second 17-year-old suspect was arrested on suspicion of raping a 13-year-old girl in Poipet on Monday.

Thanh Noeurn, 41, was charged amid accusations that he had raped his underage stepdaughter and gave her 10,000 riels (US$2.50) after threatening her life if she did not keep silent about the assault, according to Keo Srey Sey, director of the provincial office of anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection.

He said that the victim went to visit her grandfather on Sunday with her stepfather, when he stopped his motorbike in a cashew plantation and raped her.

In a separate incident, a 17-year-old was arrested in the Poipet commune of Banteay Meanchey’s O’Chrou district, over accusations that he raped a 13-year-old girl while she went to use the bathroom outside her home on Monday.

“The victim’s mother said that her daughter went to the bathroom located behind their house alone,” Sith Los, director of the provincial anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection office, said yesterday.

“Her parents wondered why she was gone for such a long time, and when they went to look they saw the suspect raping their daughter while she cried.”

He added that the suspect would be charged in provincial court today.

The suspect allegedly admitted to the charges but said that the sex was consensual, according to Om Sophal, police chief of Poipet town

He added that police  caught the suspect as he tried to escape, and that there was enough evidence to charge him with rape.