Two Men Sought in Brazen Rape, Abduction
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 cri
Police are seeking two men suspected of raping a young womanafter a brazen abduction from a PhnomPenh beer garden last week, in a crime rights workerssay is not uncommon in a growing culture of impunity. The victim, who is 16 years old, was allegedly kidnapped bytwo 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 onlyhis first name be used. Ra's account was corroborated by a police report andtestimony of another witness, who asked not to be named with the two men stillat large. The men had been drinking at the beer garden earlier thatnight, Ra said. They drank until the restaurant closed, and just as Ra's motherarrived to pick up his sister, they returned in their car, a green ToyotaCorolla, brandishing pistols. The two men, both in their twenties, pushed his sister andmother into the car, Ra said in a recent interview from his apartment near SounSamneang, where he shares a room with guards and waitresses from therestaurant. He was unable to help because of the guns, Ra said. "That night, they came," Ra said. "I wasfighting with them, and they said, 'Be careful of dying,' and they also pushedme 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 Bridgein Phnom Penh,Ra said, citing accounts of his sister and mother. They then took his sister toTek Meas guesthouse, on the Chroy Changva peninsula, where both men raped her,Ra alleged. Chamkar Mon district police said they have received acomplaint 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 saidMonday they had no knowledge of the incident. A night guard at the guesthouse, who declined to give hisname, said he was asleep by 11 pm that night and did not know two men had takena girl into a room. "I know nothing. I heard nothing. I went to sleep asusual," he said. Everyone with knowledge of Friday's incident was afraid togive his or her full name, for fear of reprisal. The owner of the Soun Samneang beer garden, who gave herfirst name, Neat, said she had helped the victim file a complaint. "I'm worried about this kind of case happening again atmy restaurant, because the restaurant has no right to keep the guns of itsvisitors," she said. It is not possible to know which guests have guns,she said. A coworker, Nuon, who is a beer promotion girl at SounSamneang, said she and other girls at the restaurant are now afraid for theirsafety. "Even the young gangsters have guns. That's why I'mafraid," she said, adding that she was forced to continue working to earnmoney and support her parents. Ra said his sister and mother have gone into hiding. Chamkar Mon District Police Chief Ouch Sokhorn said Mondaythe two suspects had been identified, but he declined to provide furtherdetails in the ongoing investigation. However, Friday night's alleged crime was not an isolatedincident, and similar cases are not hard to find. Another victim, Leak, 21, worked as an Angkor Beer promotiongirl last year at a similar beer garden in Phnom Penh. In May 2007 she was taken bythree men with a gun who forced her into their car and took her to anotherguesthouse along National Road 6, not far from the Tek Meas. "One man pointed the gun and forced me to get in thecar, and they brought me to a guesthouse," she said. "One man wore acondom, 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 ithurts. She never filed a complaint, and now regrets it, she said, because thethree men who raped her remain free. Lim Mony, director of the women's department of the rightsgroup Adhoc, said criminals in Cambodialook down on the police, their impunity a product of the inability of police tofully protect the people. "It shows that the honesty and dignity of the law arelow down," she said. "The police do not fully protect the safety ofsociety." Most important, she said, such abductions and rapes exhibita disregard for women, and especially women who work at night. Nop Sarin Sreyroth, secretary-general of the CambodianWomen's Crisis Center, said Friday night's case highlighted a worseningproblem, where offenders have no respect for the law. If the men are not arrested and punished, it will affect thefeeling of women who work at night, she said, and will encourage other similarcrimes. Phnom Penh Police Chief Touch Naroth said last week the citywas meeting with guesthouse owners to make sure they register their guestsbefore renting them a room, or face a fine or closure. Guesthouses have become a favorite place for petty criminalsto do drugs, commit crimes, and rape women, he said.