Malaysian jailed for sex with minor after uproar

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - A Malaysian high court on Monday jailed a man for more than five years for having sex with a 12-year-old girl, following outrage over an earlier verdict to free him on probation.

A high court in northern Penang state upheld Chuah Guan Jiu's conviction and ordered him jailed for five-and-a-half years on two charges of statutory rape, his lawyer Yusuf Idris said.

Mr Yusuf said he would appeal the verdict.

A lower court in August had freed the 22-year-old electrician on probation after finding him guilty of having sex with the girl on two occasions in July last year, when she was 12 years and 10 months old.