Singapore - A Singapore court on Wednesday sentenced a man to 12 years preventative detention and 12 strokes of the cane after he pretended to be a police officer to sexually abuse three girls, media reports said.

As a repeat offender, Muhammad Sufian Hussain, 34, would have no chance of an early release, the online edition of The Straits Times newspaper reported.

Hussain showed the girls his card used for payment of public transport fares to make them believe he was a police officer.

In March last year, he told an 11-year-old that he had to check her family's flat for hidden cigarettes after her parents and sister had gone out. He then abused the girl.

Some months later, he abused two other girls, ages 11 and 13, and exposed himself to them, the report said.

Hussain, a former cafe manager, had similar convictions for outrage and insulting modesty and admitted to the latest charges against him.

He had been diagnosed with exhibitionism some years earlier but dropped out of therapy.(dpa)