A Chinese national who forced a 17-year-old girl to prostitute herself in Singapore and lived on her immoral earnings was sentenced to six years on Thursday.

Tang Huisheng shouted in Mandarin: "This, to me, is very unfair!'' as he was being led away by auxiliary policemen from the dock. The 37-year-old, whose sentence was backdated to June 7, had pleaded guilty to four charges - bringing the girl here for the purpose of prostitution; living on her immoral earnings; harbouring her at Guillemard Road; and abetting a customer to pay her $100 for her sexual services

Community Court Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan said a custodial sentence was warranted to deter like-minded offenders. Tang, he said, had subjected the minor to extreme physical, mental and sexual abuses. He also noted that the girl was made to serve 150 clients in a short 15 days, translating into a numbing figure of 10 clients each day. Tang took away all her prostitution earnings of $9,000.

Mr Shaiffudin said Tang's depravity, callousness and outright cruelty were viewed with abhorrence.

The girl, who is from Shandong province, was tricked into meeting Tang in Zhuhai, China, in May this year. He drugged her once and had sex with her while she was in a stupor. He would beat her up or threaten do to so when she refused his sexual demands.

When the girl learnt that Tang was bringing her to Singapore to work as a prostitute, she refused and tried to escape by jumping from a fifth-floor unit. But she was caught and threatened by Tang and his sister.

The girl was brought here by Tang on May 16. She began work two days later and was arrested on June 1. Tang was arrested four days later after losing $18,300 of the $19,100 he cashed in at Marina Bay Sands casino.

The maximum penalty for the most serious offence of abetting in commercial sex is seven years and a fine. Seventeen men have been jailed so far out of 24 men charged with commercial sex with the minor.