Singapore - A Singapore court on Friday sentenced a former airforce sergeant to 20 months in jail for physically abusing his Indonesian maid, media reports said.

Tong Chew Wei, 31, was also ordered to pay the victim, Nana Widayanti, 6,480 Singapore dollars (4,200 US dollars), the online edition of Straits Times newspaper reported.

Tong was convicted on seven charges for abuse that took place between December 2006 and February 2007.

He was released on 10,000-Singapore-dollar bail and is appealing the sentence.

The 25-year-old maid testified that the abuse began just a few weeks into her employment until she ran away.

She said Tong had slapped, poked and hit her frequently with a broomstick.

In one incident, he scalded her on the back of her right and left knees.

Prosecutors called for a heavy sentence, saying Tong had abused his position of trust and used weapons to attack a vulnerable person.

All the assaults were unprovoked, they said.

"Punishing a domestic maid by not allowing her to sleep was unkind enough, additionally requiring her to stand while she was sleep deprived at 3am, and then beating her for falling asleep at that time, was wholly demeaning and cruel treatment of another human being," the report quoted the prosecutor as saying. (dpa)