via CAAI
Friday, 18 March 2011 15:02Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
Two men were charged in Phnom Penh Municipal Court yesterday, over the rape of a 19-year old karaoke singer in Meanchey district’s Prek Pra commune in Phnom Penh last year.
Presiding Judge Suos Sam Ath said that Ung Dara, 43, was charged with the rape of the singer in a karaoke parlour in Or Anduong village in October, and that Chan Dararith, 35, was charged as his accomplice.
“Ung Dara forcibly raped the victim in a karaoke room while singing songs with her, and Chan Dararith helped him by holding her legs and spreading them apart in order to facilitate Ung Dara’s successful rape,”
he said.
He added that the court would announce verdicts for the two suspects on March 28.
Heang Sopheakra said that on the morning of October 30, Ung Dara, Chan Dararith and four other people came to sing karaoke and the victim sat with the two men in their room.
“While I was singing Karaoke with them in the room, Ung Dara embraced me and touched my breasts,” she said in court testimony yesterday.
“He forcibly raped me without using a condom, and during the rape Chan Dararith held both of my legs for him. I tried to defend myself from the rape but I could not,” she said, adding that the two suspects escaped after the incident occurred.
Mam Pheasa, Ung Dara’s lawyer, refuted the charges against his client in court yesterday.
“It is a normal thing that girls who work at karaoke shops could be hugged and I accept that my client could have committed this,” he said.
“But I deny that he raped her and I ask the court to drop the charges against him.”
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