Phnom Penh - Cambodian authorities have charged a 12-year- old girl with snapping her 6-year-old neighbour's neck in an attempt to rob her of a 25-dollar pair of gold earrings, police said Saturday. Sa'ang district police chief Un Savuth said Korn Mtes, 12, had allegedly lured kindergarten pupil Thong Sromouch Krahom away from her playmates to a secluded area behind a house.
"Then it appears she wrung the little one's neck and just took the earrings off her dead body," Savuth said over the telephone.
He said the incident had occurred late Thursday afternoon and Mtes had now been formally charged.
Premeditated murder carries a 20-year jail term in Cambodia, but Savuth said it would be up to the court to decide what sentence to award such a young offender if convicted.
Cambodia does not have a separate juvenile justice system.
