A 58-year-old man in southern Vietnam has been convicted of sexually abusing an elementary school girl and condemned to seven years in prison for the offense.

Huu Be, living in Thoi Binh District, Ca Mau Province, was found guilty of sexually abusing the fifth-grader H.M.K., one of his neighbors.

He will serve a prison term of seven years and must pay VND13 million ($572) in compensation, the court in Ca Mau ruled on Monday.

Investigators said that Be was exploiting the child’s naivety, between June and September 2016, he made phone calls, wrote appointment slips and gave money to her, planning to finally sexually abuse the child.

After the child had been abused multiple times, the victim’s family found that she had consumed poison in February last year, the case record said.

The child was hospitalized and died later.

Huu Be, however, denied all knowledge of the calls, meetings and his abuse, and refused to pay the damages, despite conclusive evidence.

The sexual abuse was a high-profile case, as the victim’s family chafed at the authority’s slowness in prosecuting Be, even though the girl had killed herself.

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