Ratanakkiri provincial police’s anti-human trafficking bureau sent a man to the provincial court on Sunday after he was arrested in Lumphat district on Friday accused of raping his 14-year-old step-daughter.

Keo Davy, the provincial deputy police chief in charge of the anti-human trafficking unit, told The Post on Sunday that the 36-year-old suspect was sent to court on Sunday afternoon.

“We are satisfied that he raped his step-daughter because he has confessed, and the girl also told us what the suspect did. He will face the full force of the law if the court finds him guilty,” she said.

Davy said the girl’s mother is a widow who has two more children with the suspect.

She said that last year, the suspect regularly persuaded the girl to go fishing with him far away from the village. Whilst there, she said, the suspect often seized the chance to rape his step-daughter.

“The suspect admitted to the authorities that he sometimes slept with his step-daughter and played with her genital area."

“He said he had raped her 10 times. Sometimes he penetrated her but sometimes he was not able to. After he raped her the first time, he threatened to kill her if she dared to tell anyone,” Davy said.

She said the authorities had received a complaint from the girl’s mother. After receiving the complaint, the suspect was arrested in Lumphat district and taken to the district police station.

Davy said the suspect initially denied the charges, but later he confessed and was sent to the police station in Ratanakkiri province.