Indonesia - An appeal court in Malaysia has doubled the penalty for an employer convicted of raping an Indonesian maid to 32 years of imprisonment.

The court also ordered the rapist, Seow Eng Aik, to be lashed 18 times with a cane. Seow was the one who was filing for the appeal. He was earlier sentenced in 2005 to 16 years of imprisonment for the crime.

Seow's wife, Tan Seok Hoon, was also found guilty by the appeal court for assisting in holding the hands of the maid while the husband committing the crime. The court also found evidence that Tan scrubbed chili to the victim's vagina after the rape. She was sentenced to be put behind bars for six years.

The court also made a public statement saying that anyone who commit such crime would be punished severely.

"Our reason to add the penalty was because it was a sadistic crime against an innocent girl that is supposed to be protected. But you, with the aid of your wife, rape the victim to satisfy your list. The poor girl came all the way from Indonesia to find a living, but you sexually abuse her" said judge Datuk Suriyadi Halim Omar as quoted by Bernama newswire on Wednesday.