A special hearing will be held on Thursday over a pimp's denial that he forced a teen into prostitution here and drugged her in China.

Chinese national Tang Huisheng, 37, had earlier admitted to four vice-related offences including abetting a customer to have paid sex with the 17-year-old.

A Community Court was told earlier that Tang beat the girl and fed her with methamphetamine or Ice and had sex with her while she was in a stupor. When she refused his demands for sex, he would beat her up.

The girl had been forced by family circumstances to seek work in Macau but could not work at the casino due to her age. Tang's sister then lured her into meeting Tang in Zhuhai, China. When Tang told the minor that he would be bringing her to Singapore to work as a prostitute, she refused. She even leapt from a fifth-floor unit in a bid to escape but was caught and threatened by the Tang siblings.

Tang brought her to Singapore on May 16. Two days later, she started working as a prostitute in Geylang and provided paid sexual services to some 150 customers over 15 days, earning about $9,000, before her arrest on June 1.

When he saw her being arrested, he slipped away unnoticed and gambled away $18,300 of the $19,100 he cashed in at Marina Bay Sands casino. He even brought forward his return flight home but was arrested on June 5 while on his way to the airport.

Pressing for a jail sentence of at least 71/2 years on Wednesday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Stella Tan Wei Ling said this was the first case of its kind. She said the level of violence Tang used to obtain the minor for prostitution was unprecedented. His sole purpose of coming here was to exploit the minor for his personal gain.

"There is a strong public interest in ensuring that Singapore does not become a destination for human sex traffickers for quick and large commercial gain through showing the world that such offenders will be dealt with swiftly and harshly.''