Chng Yew Chin, 43, was sentenced to three strokes of the cane and four months' jail for squeezing the 28-year-old maid's breasts in his flat last August, the official said.

The maid had worked for Chng's mother for about one month when he asked her to massage him in his bedroom almost daily, the official said. The maid testified that he touched her buttocks. When he continued to touch her after she asked him to stop, she filed a police report, the official said.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday that maids in Singapore suffered serious abuses including sexual violence, food deprivation and home lock-ups.

The government called the report "a gross exaggeration" and defended existing legislation protecting foreign domestic workers.

Manpower Minister Ng Eng Hen said the government does not tolerate maid abuse and has taken action to punish employers guilty of ill-treating their domestic helpers, according to transcripts of a BBC Radio interview released to the media.

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