By Seng Ratana, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
09 September 2008
Police are seeking two men suspected of raping a young woman after a brazen abduction from a Phnom Penh beer garden last week, in a crime rights workers say is not uncommon in a growing culture of impunity.
The victim, who is 16 years old, was allegedly kidnapped by two men at gunpoint from Soun Samneang beer garden around 1 am on Friday night, according to her brother, Ra, who witnessed the abduction and asked that only his first name be used.
Ra's account was corroborated by a police report and testimony of another witness, who asked not to be named with the two men still at large.
The men had been drinking at the beer garden earlier that night, Ra said. They drank until the restaurant closed, and just as Ra's mother arrived to pick up his sister, they returned in their car, a green Toyota Corolla, brandishing pistols.
The two men, both in their twenties, pushed his sister and mother into the car, Ra said in a recent interview from his apartment near Soun Samneang, where he shares a room with guards and waitresses from the restaurant.
He was unable to help because of the guns, Ra said.
"That night, they came," Ra said. "I was fighting with them, and they said, 'Be careful of dying,' and they also pushed me toward the car. I want these gangsters put in prison."
The kidnappers took the two women on National Road 6, dropping the mother at the Japanese Friendship Bridge in Phnom Penh, Ra said, citing accounts of his sister and mother. They then took his sister to Tek Meas guesthouse, on the Chroy Changva peninsula, where both men raped her, Ra alleged.
Chamkar Mon district police said they have received a complaint from the victim, who said she asked to use the phone of Tek Meas, after the alleged assailants left her, taking her phone and her jewelry.
However, staff members at the Tek Meas guesthouse said Monday they had no knowledge of the incident.
A night guard at the guesthouse, who declined to give his name, said he was asleep by 11 pm that night and did not know two men had taken a girl into a room.
"I know nothing. I heard nothing. I went to sleep as usual," he said.
Everyone with knowledge of Friday's incident was afraid to give his or her full name, for fear of reprisal.
The owner of the Soun Samneang beer garden, who gave her first name, Neat, said she had helped the victim file a complaint.
"I'm worried about this kind of case happening again at my restaurant, because the restaurant has no right to keep the guns of its visitors," she said. It is not possible to know which guests have guns, she said.
A coworker, Nuon, who is a beer promotion girl at Soun Samneang, said she and other girls at the restaurant are now afraid for their safety.
"Even the young gangsters have guns. That's why I'm afraid," she said, adding that she was forced to continue working to earn money and support her parents.
Ra said his sister and mother have gone into hiding.
Chamkar Mon District Police Chief Ouch Sokhorn said Monday the two suspects had been identified, but he declined to provide further details in the ongoing investigation.
However, Friday night's alleged crime was not an isolated incident, and similar cases are not hard to find.
Another victim, Leak, 21, worked as an Angkor Beer promotion girl last year at a similar beer garden in Phnom Penh. In May 2007 she was taken by three men with a gun who forced her into their car and took her to another guesthouse along National Road 6, not far from the Tek Meas.
"One man pointed the gun and forced me to get in the car, and they brought me to a guesthouse," she said. "One man wore a condom, but the other two did not. That's why I'm afraid of AIDS."
The event still haunts her, she said, and the memory of it hurts. She never filed a complaint, and now regrets it, she said, because the three men who raped her remain free.
Lim Mony, director of the women's department of the rights group Adhoc, said criminals in Cambodia look down on the police, their impunity a product of the inability of police to fully protect the people.
"It shows that the honesty and dignity of the law are low down," she said. "The police do not fully protect the safety of society."
Most important, she said, such abductions and rapes exhibit a disregard for women, and especially women who work at night.
Nop Sarin Sreyroth, secretary-general of the Cambodian Women's Crisis Center, said Friday night's case highlighted a worsening problem, where offenders have no respect for the law.
If the men are not arrested and punished, it will affect the feeling of women who work at night, she said, and will encourage other similar crimes.
Phnom Penh Police Chief Touch Naroth said last week the city was meeting with guesthouse owners to make sure they register their guests before renting them a room, or face a fine or closure.
Guesthouses have become a favorite place for petty criminals to do drugs, commit crimes, and rape women, he said.
The victim, who is 16 years old, was allegedly kidnapped by two men at gunpoint from Soun Samneang beer garden around 1 am on Friday night, according to her brother, Ra, who witnessed the abduction and asked that only his first name be used.
Ra's account was corroborated by a police report and testimony of another witness, who asked not to be named with the two men still at large.
The men had been drinking at the beer garden earlier that night, Ra said. They drank until the restaurant closed, and just as Ra's mother arrived to pick up his sister, they returned in their car, a green Toyota Corolla, brandishing pistols.
The two men, both in their twenties, pushed his sister and mother into the car, Ra said in a recent interview from his apartment near Soun Samneang, where he shares a room with guards and waitresses from the restaurant.
He was unable to help because of the guns, Ra said.
"That night, they came," Ra said. "I was fighting with them, and they said, 'Be careful of dying,' and they also pushed me toward the car. I want these gangsters put in prison."
The kidnappers took the two women on National Road 6, dropping the mother at the Japanese Friendship Bridge in Phnom Penh, Ra said, citing accounts of his sister and mother. They then took his sister to Tek Meas guesthouse, on the Chroy Changva peninsula, where both men raped her, Ra alleged.
Chamkar Mon district police said they have received a complaint from the victim, who said she asked to use the phone of Tek Meas, after the alleged assailants left her, taking her phone and her jewelry.
However, staff members at the Tek Meas guesthouse said Monday they had no knowledge of the incident.
A night guard at the guesthouse, who declined to give his name, said he was asleep by 11 pm that night and did not know two men had taken a girl into a room.
"I know nothing. I heard nothing. I went to sleep as usual," he said.
Everyone with knowledge of Friday's incident was afraid to give his or her full name, for fear of reprisal.
The owner of the Soun Samneang beer garden, who gave her first name, Neat, said she had helped the victim file a complaint.
"I'm worried about this kind of case happening again at my restaurant, because the restaurant has no right to keep the guns of its visitors," she said. It is not possible to know which guests have guns, she said.
A coworker, Nuon, who is a beer promotion girl at Soun Samneang, said she and other girls at the restaurant are now afraid for their safety.
"Even the young gangsters have guns. That's why I'm afraid," she said, adding that she was forced to continue working to earn money and support her parents.
Ra said his sister and mother have gone into hiding.
Chamkar Mon District Police Chief Ouch Sokhorn said Monday the two suspects had been identified, but he declined to provide further details in the ongoing investigation.
However, Friday night's alleged crime was not an isolated incident, and similar cases are not hard to find.
Another victim, Leak, 21, worked as an Angkor Beer promotion girl last year at a similar beer garden in Phnom Penh. In May 2007 she was taken by three men with a gun who forced her into their car and took her to another guesthouse along National Road 6, not far from the Tek Meas.
"One man pointed the gun and forced me to get in the car, and they brought me to a guesthouse," she said. "One man wore a condom, but the other two did not. That's why I'm afraid of AIDS."
The event still haunts her, she said, and the memory of it hurts. She never filed a complaint, and now regrets it, she said, because the three men who raped her remain free.
Lim Mony, director of the women's department of the rights group Adhoc, said criminals in Cambodia look down on the police, their impunity a product of the inability of police to fully protect the people.
"It shows that the honesty and dignity of the law are low down," she said. "The police do not fully protect the safety of society."
Most important, she said, such abductions and rapes exhibit a disregard for women, and especially women who work at night.
Nop Sarin Sreyroth, secretary-general of the Cambodian Women's Crisis Center, said Friday night's case highlighted a worsening problem, where offenders have no respect for the law.
If the men are not arrested and punished, it will affect the feeling of women who work at night, she said, and will encourage other similar crimes.
Phnom Penh Police Chief Touch Naroth said last week the city was meeting with guesthouse owners to make sure they register their guests before renting them a room, or face a fine or closure.
Guesthouses have become a favorite place for petty criminals to do drugs, commit crimes, and rape women, he said.
11 comments:
cambodia must work hard to rid itself of the culture of impunity as this is elitist attitude and not good for the future of the country. the rule of laws in the best ways if we want to live side by side peaceful because only law will protect everyone from injustice. this means all khmer citizens. god bless cambodia.
Guest house not register that one thing but Criminal run loose and the fucking son of the rich and powerfull can do any thing above the law that the fucking most scarry.
This fucking goverment of ah Hun Sen is worst than the fucking sit hed of ah Pol Pot!
How can YOU UN let us less than survive in the hand of the fucking Khmere rouge like that?
Ah HUn Sen is Khmre Rouge officer
and Shi Hanouk was Khmere rouge precident!
What the fuck you let us suffering for that long!????? Whish all your children be rape like us!
If they think we're the Devil, Well, let's send them to Hell!
If you commit evil you'll receive evil. One day, this kind of thing will happen to Hun Sen family, relatives.
This is because women have no power in Cambodia.
In the rule of Jungle in Cambodia, women need more power to protect ourselves.
Ah Hun To is the responsible one
Hun To must be brought to justice for the crime in which he has committed
The authories must question Mr. Hun To about the tragic incident, because according to one witness who spoke on condition of anonymity because she afraid of reprisal, said that she saw Hun To was waiting at the guesthouse at the time of incident.
In the meantime, for the safety of the girl and her mother, they must be protected, or Mr. Hun To will send someone to silence them.
Mr. Hun To must be brought to justice for the crime in which he has perpetrated.
What do you have to say about the incident, Mr. Hun To. We are certain that you're being protected by your criminal uncle (one-eyed directionless leader).
Ah To must be brought to justice!
hun to is fuck crazy raping young kids in cambodia and his bodyguard
his bodyguarrdd and unidentify man delivere girl to guesthouse
hun to sex withh the and let her go
crazzy man
Does Ah Hun To have anything to say about the allegation?
The court of Cambodia must cut off his two-inch prick so he doesn't go around rapping young kids.
Also, Ah Hun Sen must be ashamed of your nephew's crime, Mr. prime minister.
I've been to a karaoke bar and the guards checked for weapons. Why can't this beer promotion bar not check for weapons before allowing them to enter?
9:43 PM
These people only check weapons with ordinary Cambodian citizens, but not those who hold high-ranking position.
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