Tuesday, 24 June 2008

Cambodian primary schoolteacher accused of raping pupils

M&G Asia-Pacific News
Jun 24, 2008

Phnom Penh - A Cambodian primary schoolteacher was on the run after five of his 8-year-old students accused him of rape, local media reported Tuesday.

Up Sophy, 25, fled before police in the north-eastern province of Kratie could apprehend him, the Khmer-language Koh Santepheap newspaper said.

The grandmother of one of the victims filed a complaint after she noticed the girl was bleeding.
Four other children subsequently also reported serial abuse at the hands of their teacher.

'The first little girl told her parents she had been raped 12 times, and the second said she had been raped five times,' the paper quoted local police officer Chokk Pally as saying. 'These cases were the most serious.'

The two girls who allegedly suffered the most regular and brutal assaults were cousins, the paper said. The three others were also students in Sophy's primary school class.

If convicted, Sophy faces up to 20 years in prison.

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