A 15-year-old suspect has been charged with attempted rape and committing intentional acts of violence after a brutal assault on a 14-year-old girl, who remains unconscious in hospital.

The suspect was arrested on Saturday night after attacking the deaf-mute girl, who also has a mental impairment, slashing a knife twice into her neck and once into her thigh in Ang village, in Kampot’s Teuk Chhou district. The 14-year-old was brought to hospital in Phnom Penh, where she has yet to regain consciousness.

Court spokesperson Khann Sophal yesterday said that Investigating Judge Long Kesphyrum charged the suspect with “attempted rape and violence with aggravating circumstances” on Sunday and sent him to pre-trial detention.

James McCabe, director of Child Protection Unit, yesterday said the girl was still being treated in Phnom Penh. “If the child dies, they are going to charge him with murder,” he said yesterday. He had previously said that the girl had lost a critical amount of blood in the attack, as the suspect had hit an artery when slashing her.