Phnom Penh police nabbed a man suspected of raping and murdering a 14-year-old girl on Tuesday.

The police grabbed him as he was getting into a taxi to flee to his hometown in Ratanakkiri province, according to the Ministry of Interior crime department.

Deputy crime department chief Cheav Vibol told The Post on Wednesday that the suspect, Lach Chantha, 25, lived in a rented house in group 2, Chrey Korng village, In Por Sen Chey district’s Chaom Chao II commune, Phnom Penh, and was born in Ratanakkiri Province.

Vibol said the girl was murdered in a rented room there. “The victim’s nude body with her throat cut was found by her relatives,” Vibol said, adding that the autopsy report revealed she was raped before being murdered.

Police forces from Phnom Penh, and Kandal and Kampong Speu provinces searched for the suspect before making the arrest under Ly Yong Phat Bridge in Kandal village, in the capital’s Prek Pnov commune-district.

According to the suspect’s confession, before committing the rape and killing of the girl, he had drunk rice wine mixed with orange juice and ecstasy pills. When he was drunk and walked by the room, he saw the girl alone. He entered, raped her and then used a sharp knife to commit the murder, Vibol said.

The suspect tested positive for drugs. Police are interrogating him and gathering additional evidence.

The victim’s mother, Chan Sreymon told The Post that she is preparing the funeral ceremony. “I would like to request the police to send him to court to be sentenced to life in prison,” she said.