Kuala Lumpur, Aug 6 (DPA) A Malaysian man who forced his wife to have sex with him has been sentenced to five years' jail under a newly enacted law aimed at protecting women from spousal abuse in the form of marital rape, a news report said Thursday.

The 35-year-old man had pleaded guilty to injuring his wife during sexual intercourse in their home in the eastern state of Pahang in April.

His wife, who lodged the police report, told the court that her husband had been using violence during sex for all of the nine years that they have been married.

'We commend the wife for having the courage to sacrifice her family's good name by coming forward and lodging a police report against the husband after the last episode,' Judge Hassan Abdul Ghani was quoted as saying by the New Straits Times.

'Even though it was a shameful and personal thing to admit, she did it in the hope that her husband would change.