A Chinese worker was sentenced to nine blows with a cane and jailed four and half years by the Singapore courts on Monday after being convicted of sexually harassing three women in elevators.

Liang Dong, who harassed the women in August 2012, is only the latest in a series of offenders to be caned in Singapore, cases which have often drawn controversy.

Singapore allows caning, a practice inherited from British colonial rule, to be inflicted on male offenders under 50 with no history of heart disease.

A Singaporean lawyer told the Beijing News, which reported the case, that the purpose was both individual and public deterrence.

Some Chinese Web users commented that corporal punishment is too harsh as a punishment for sexual harassment. But others felt it could deter potential offenders, and called for China to introduce a similar penalty.