Singapore - A 14-year prison sentence was upheld against a 37-year-old Singaporean with an urge to sniff and suck the armpits of women he molested, a newspaper reported Friday.

Chief Justice Chan Sek Keong called Mohammed Ismail Arifin a "big risk to society - not only to the adults but also the young girls" and upheld the prison term imposed in June by a district court on 10 charges, the Straits Times said.

But Chan reduced Mohammed Ismail's caning sentence to 12 strokes from 18 because, Chan said, he did no real violence to his victims.

A medical report has described Mohammed Ismail's condition as "a deviation from normal sexual preferences," but the court was also told that he had no psychiatric disorder.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Mark Tay said Mohammed Ismail had himself admitted that he would have continued molesting women if he had not been arrested.

Mohammed Ismail, who was arrested a year ago, was convicted of molesting 23 girls and women ranging in age from 9 into their 50s in the lifts and on staircase landings of northern Singapore housing estates and in their homes. (dpa)