A 40-year-old Sabahan restaurant manager has been sentenced to 12 years in jail and two strokes of the rotan after being found guilty of raping a 12-year-old girl last year in Inanam.

Riduan Masmud’s case attracted outrage last year when the former told the court during his trial that he had married the girl, now 13, after allegedly raping her.

The Star reported that the Kota Kinabalu Sessions Court judge Ummu Kalthom Abdul Samad meted out the sentence. Riduan is set to appeal the sentencing.

He allegedly committed the offence on Feb 18 last year and was charged on Feb 28 with raping the girl.

However, in May, Riduan had told the court during trial that he had married the girl.

Additionally, Riduan was also charged at the Kota Kinabalu Special Corruption Court with allegedly trying to bribe the father of the girl he had allegedly raped.

He was charged in June, after allegedly trying to bribe the girl’s father on at least three different occasions with sums of RM 5,000, RM 2,000 and RM 3,000.