A 72-YEAR-OLD man claimed to be a doctor, then instructed a maid to strip after a "health examination".
Chia Fook Kun later molested the 23-year-old Indonesian.
He was sentenced to one year in jail yesterday on one count of outrage of modesty, while two other charges were taken into consideration.
The court heard that Chia is a part-time driver for a maid agency. He would also put maids up at his place of residence, a flat in Jalan Minyak in the Outram area.
On Nov 13, the victim - who cannot be named because of a gag order - was arrested because she was caught stealing from her previous employer.
Her agency arranged for Chia to bail her out and to take custody of her during investigations.
Three days later, Chia lied to the victim that he was a doctor and showed her some photos and certificates on his computer to trick her into believing him.
After "examining" her with a blood pressure device and a stethoscope, he told her she was in poor health and that he wanted to apply cream on her chest.
Chia then made her go to the bedroom and told her to remove her shirt and bra, before applying the cream on her breasts. He later unbuttoned her jeans but was interrupted by a phone call.
While he was engaged, the victim dressed herself and left. She later made a police report.
Deputy Public Prosecutor James Low called for a jail sentence of a year. He noted that Chia had also been convicted of outrage of modesty in 2001 and was jailed for 15 months then.
Mr Low added that the victim was vulnerable and Chia took advantage of her fear of being sent to jail because of theft. She was eventually let off with a warning.
Another aggravating factor was the "significant degree of deception and premeditation", as Chia claimed that he was a doctor and even produced documents though he was not medically trained, said Mr Low. "If not for his age, the prosecution would have sought a stiffer sentence."
Chia's lawyer Louis Joseph said in mitigation that his client was in poor health and remorseful.
District Judge Liew Thiam Leng sentenced Chia to a year in jail, after considering the two other charges and his previous conviction.
Chia asked to defer his sentence for two weeks and the judge raised his bail from $5,000 to $15,000.
For outrage of modesty, he could have been jailed up to two years, fined and caned.
