London, July 31 (IANS) A British businessman on holiday in Singapore faces jail or lashing with a cane for allegedly pinching a woman’s bottom, a media report said.
Austin Cowburn, a 34-year-old recruitment consultant, allegedly pinched and squeezed the woman’s bottom while partying at the China One nightclub in Singapore’s Boat Quay area in April, the Daily Mail said.
Cowburn works as a senior executive in Doha, Qatar, for international recruitment company NES Global.
He has now surrendered his passport to police and is out on bail.
If convicted, Cowburn could be jailed for two years, fined up to 6,000 pounds or be sentenced to a lashing with a four-feet cane.
A spokesman from Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office said the British high commission in Singapore is providing consular assistance.
Under Singapore’s laws since the days of British colonial rule, caning is widely used to punish criminals.
Some years ago, an American teenager received cane lashing for vandalising a car with a spray paint can – despite all the diplomatic pressure the US could bear on the tiny island-nation.
