Yang Qifa, a headmaster, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for raping and molesting schoolgirls.

The sentence was handed down on Tuesday morning in Qianshan county, Anhui province.

The 59-year-old Chinese language teacher was found guilty of raping a girl surnamed Cheng several times between 2007 and 2008 and another girl surnamed Xu between 2008 and 2009.

Over the past 12 years, Yang also molested several other girls in his office, classrooms and even at their homes. All 9 victims were under the age of 14, according to a report by www.chinacourt.org.

Yang’s defense team said he would appeal the verdict.

Yang has a wife and two sons, who are both college students. Yang was the only bread earner in his family.