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A BRITISH businessman faces being beaten with a cane for allegedly grabbing a woman's bottom in a Singapore nightclub. Recruitment consultant Austin Cowburn, 34, was charged by cops on Friday with "outraging the modesty" of a 30-year-old woman. The incident was alleged to have happened in an area popular with tourists and ex-pats. The charge carries a maximum sentence of two years in jail, a fine of up to �6,000, a lashing across his bare buttocks with a 4ft rattan cane or a combination of all three. Cowburn lives in a backpacker hostel ahead of a court hearing on Wednesday after a judge set bail at �4,900. His passport has also been seized. Cowburn, originally from Manchester, was visiting Singapore on holiday from Dohar, Qatar, where he works when it is said he visited the club where the incident allegedly happened on April 3. A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokesman said: "We are aware of the arrest of a British national in Singapore. "The British High Commission in Singapore is providing consular assistance."