GEORGE TOWN, June 27 — A former hotel security guard was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane by the Sessions Court here after admitting to raping and committing unnatural sex on an Australian woman last year.

The court handed down concurrent sentences after the accused changed his plea to guilty earlier this week, Free Malaysia Today (FMT) reported.

Judge Juraidah Abbas ordered both sentences to run concurrently from the date of arrest.

Deputy public prosecutor Anuarul Hakim Abdul Muen represented the state, while defence counsel was Arvind Santhanam.

The accused was initially brought before the court on July 4 last year. He entered a not guilty plea later that month but reversed his position and admitted the charges on June 24 this year.

According to FMT, case records show that at about 3am, the man approached the victim and her British companion outside a bar in Love Lane, claiming he could drive them to hospital after the companion complained of feeling unwell. He then forced the companion out of the vehicle, took the woman to a cemetery near Mount Erskine and assaulted her, threatening her with a pair of scissors between 5.20am and 6am.

The victim was discovered by a couple passing the area, who assisted her in lodging a police report. The accused was detained later the same day, with closed circuit television footage and forensic findings linking him to the offences.