A former Nanyang Technological University research associate molested three young girls - including his own niece - and recorded some of the acts on video.

The 45-year-old paedophile distracted the children using games on his mobile devices or by asking them to draw, the court heard.

The man, a father of two who is now jobless and cannot be named to protect his victims' identities, was sentenced to eight years' jail and the maximum 24 strokes of the cane yesterday.

He pleaded guilty to six counts of molestation last month.

Fifteen other molestation charges, as well as one count each of being in possession of obscene and uncensored films, were taken into consideration during sentencing.

Some time between August 2014 and 2016, the man's niece, who was about nine years old, went to the condominium where he lived with his parents.

He took the girl to his bedroom where he gave her a pen and paper for drawing.

He then molested the girl and recorded the incident without her knowledge.

On another occasion, he outraged her modesty while she was playing a game on his mobile phone. Again, he recorded the act.

The second victim, who was about eight years old, was distracted in a similar manner when he molested her. He also recorded a video of this incident.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Nicholas Lai told the court that the man refused to provide any information about the second victim's identity.

His third victim was his neighbour's daughter.

On Jan 1 last year, the girl - who was about four at the time - was watching his son play a game on an electronic tablet when he outraged her modesty.

The little girl later told her mother that the man had touched her private parts and she felt pain while urinating.

Her parents took her to KK Women's and Children's Hospital, where staff alerted the police.

Officers arrested the man the next day.

The court heard that he has a high risk of reoffending.

For each count of molestation, he could have been jailed for up to five years and fined or caned.