A tax official was sentenced Monday 10 years in prison by a court in Yibin City, southwest China's Sichuan Province, for raping a 13-year old girl.

Lu Yumin, a tax official in Yibin County, Yibin City, had sexual intercourse last December with the victim, who was then 13, against her will in a local hotel. He was convicted of rape, according to the Cuiping District Court in Yibin City.

Lu told a businesswoman named Mo Qiong that he wanted to have sex with a virgin last October. Mo Qiong then asked her niece Mo Siting to look for the person.

Mo Siting sent the victim surnamed He to the hotel last December. Lu paid Mo Qiong 6,000 yuan (878 US dollars) before committing the crime.

The senior Mo was sentence nine years in prison Monday while the junior jailed six years because she was under the age of 18 when she committed the crime.

The criminal law in China stipulates that whoever has sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 14 shall be deemed to have committed rape and shall be given a heavier punishment.

Whoever rapes a woman faces a fixed-term of not less than three years but not more than 10 years in the country.

The rape has sparked a national criticism for the immorality of a public servant.

(Xinhua News Agency August 3, 2009)