An unemployed man was sentenced to 14 years in jail and 22 strokes of the cane today after raping a Malaysian Facebook friend just hours after she arrived in Singapore, The Straits Times reported.

The report said Yap Jun Cheng, now 26, pleaded guilty in court to three sexual offences committed against the woman who was then 20 years old.

He admitted that he raped, sexually penetrated and molested her in his Tampines flat on March 4, 2013, said the report.

According to the report, she decided to come to Singapore to look for a job in February 2013. As she was unfamiliar with the place, she contacted Yap, then 22, via Facebook and sought his help to show her around.

Yap, who was then doing his national service with the Singapore Civil Defence Force, met her at Paya Lebar MRT station in his uniform at around 9.30am and took her to his home after saying that he wanted to change his clothes.

Yap later pulled the Malaysian who became his Facebook friend in 2011, into his bedroom, locked the door and professed his liking for her. He then molested and raped her.

When he was done, Yap suddenly told his victim that he would kill her.

"The victim was extremely frightened. She set herself to do whatever it was that she had to do to leave the room alive, no matter how degrading or abhorrent," deputy public prosecutor David Khoo was quoted as saying.

The report said her cousin-in-law sensed something amiss when he picked her up in Malaysia and she told him about her ordeal. They returned to Singapore to lodge a police report later that day.

-- BERNAMA