HAVANA (Reuters) - A Canadian oil worker was convicted of sexually
                                    corrupting a 14-year old Cuban girl and sentenced by a Cuban court to 25
                                    years in jail, officials said on Saturday.

                                     Cuban authorities arrested Perry King, 40, of Edmonton, Alberta, in August
                                     and charged him in February with three counts of sexual involvement with a
                                    minor. His trial took place on April 10 and the verdict was rendered on
                                    Thursday.

                                    "Mr. King has been found guilty and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment.
                                    He intends to appeal," a spokeswoman for the Canadian Department of
                                    Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Kimberly Phillips, said in Ottawa.

                                    Cuban sources said the girl aged 14 lived in Matanzas, a port city east of
                                    Havana, and King worked for a Canadian company involved in the local oil
                                    industry.

                                    Canadian press reports said King's lawyer in Edmonton, Sid Tarrabain,
                                    complained that his client was convicted on insufficient evidence presented
                                    in a one-day trial and his family hoped to clear him name.

                                    Canada and Cuba have an exchange agreement that would allow King to
                                    serve his sentence in his home country.

                                    Phillips said the Canadian embassy had requested permission to visit King
                                    in a jail outside Havana, where he went on hunger strike late last year while
                                    waiting to be charged.