A veteran doctor launched an appeal on Monday after being convicted of two counts of molesting a female patient and sentenced to 10 months' jail.

Winston Lee Siew Boon, 70, was found guilty in March of twice groping a 34-year-old sales representative during visits to Thong Hoe Clinic in Bukit Batok Street 11.

In June 2011 she went to see him about nausea and stomach pain when he inserted his hand into her bra and squeezed her left breast, asking: "You don't get chest pain here?"

She thought it was part of the examination, but after he touched her breast again in November that year - while visiting him for a sore throat and to discuss weight management - she made a police report.

Sentencing the general practitioner on Monday, District Judge Lim Tse Haw said: "Patients consent to the doctors touching their bodies based on the trust and understanding that it was for the purpose of treating their illnesses. This trust is sacrosanct."

Lee is a trustee of the Singapore Motor Sports Association and a long-time contributor of motoring articles to The Straits Times' Life section and Torque magazine.

He has filed a notice of appeal against both his conviction and sentence.

The maximum penalty for outrage of modesty is two years' jail, fine and caning. Convicted offenders above 50 cannot be caned.