Lawyer Spencer Gwee patronised the hotel, where he allegedly had sex with an underage prostitute, so often that the staff even had a nickname for him, the court heard on Thursday.

Four Chain View Hotel's receptionist Poh Eng Soon told the court that Gwee, a former deputy public prosecutor, would check into the Geylang hotel two to three times a week. And because Gwee was a regular client he did not have to sign his name during registration, said Mr Poh.

Instead, he was assigned a code in the hotel's customer database to expedite his check-in. "I would write the code number on a piece of paper, let him check-in, and do the recording later, and this will make the process to let him go up faster," said Mr Poh.

Gwee is charged with paying a Vietnamese girl, then 16, $300 for sex on July 19, 2011.

A SingTel senior customer service representative subsequently took the stand and verified telephone screening records that showed SMSes were exchanged between Gwee and the girl on the day that the alleged paid sex had happened on July 19, 2011.

His case will be heard in court again on March 27.