Tourist Austin Cowburn faces caning in Singapore over butt-grab

A UK tourist faces the possibility of being lashed with a cane in Singapore after being charged by police for grabbing a woman's bottom in a nightclub earlier this year, The Straits Times reported.

Austin Cowburn, 34, was charged Friday with "outraging the modesty" of a 30-year-old woman in a popular Clarke Quay club on April 3.

Cowburn is now living at a backpacker hostel while on bail ahead of a court hearing on Wednesday. His passport has been seized by police.

Originally from Manchester, Cowburn was visiting Singapore on holiday from Doha, Qatar, when he visited the popular club, The (London) Times reported.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of two years in jail, a fine, a lashing across his bare buttocks with a 121cm rattan cane or a combination of the penalties.

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