Lim Eng Koon, 37, pleaded guilty to intruding into the privacy of the 19-year-old at Singapore International and Convention Centre (SICEC) at Raffles Boulevard on June 3 last year.

A magistrate's court heard that the woman was distributing flyers when she felt a touch on her inner thighs.

She turned around and saw Lim holding a cellphone in his hand.

He tried to walk away but the victim, believing that he had taken a photo from underneath her skirt, detained him with the help of security officers.

In court, Lim, a first offender, pleaded for a light sentence.

District Judge Wong Pek agreed with the prosecution that a jail term was warranted as for all such cases, the courts had always given a custodial sentence.

'This kind of behaviour should be strongly discouraged and the sentence must reflect that,'' she added.

Lim could have been jailed for up to one year and/or fined.