Man held over rapes of wife’s daughter

via CAAI

Tuesday, 28 December 2010 15:01 Sen David

BATTAMBANG provincial court yesterday charged a man with raping his stepdaughter dozens of times over a more than 10-year period, police said.

Ros Saravuthy, 40, was charged of raping his stepdaughter more than 30 times between the ages of six and 16, said Koy Heang, director of the province’s anti-human trafficking and juvenile protection bureau. The alleged victim is now 19.

According to a police report read out in court, the suspect, a tour guide who lives in Battambang’s Banan district, began abusing his wife’s daughter in 1997. It added that the girl had become pregnant at one point and had an abortion.

“The victim and her mother didn’t dare report the crime until now because the suspect threatened to kill them,” Koy Heang said. He said the mother was also initially afraid no one would support her family if she reported the crime.

The victim got married and had a daughter with her husband, but her stepfather continued to harass her by calling her for sex, said Buth Sambo, police chief of Banan district.

“The victim said her stepfather destroyed her life,” Buth Sambo said.

Kroch Chanpov, a provincial investigator in charge of women’s issues for rights group Adhoc, said rights groups had helped persuaded the victim and her mother to file a complaint.

In an unrelated case in Battambang, the mother of a 7-year-old girl on Saturday accused three boys under the age 11 of raping her daughter while playing behind her house.

Police said there was no proof that a rape had occured and suggested the mother reconcile with the boys’ families.