It was an act which the 68-year-old freelance magician could not make disappear and it landed him with a six-year jail sentence.

A woman's call to the police, to report the magician walking around naked in the flat opposite hers in Singapore, led to the exposure of a string of sexual assaults on a 12-year-old boy.

The magician, who was teaching the boy magic, had talked the secondary school student, now 13, into engaging in sex acts with him.

On Tuesday, the man, who cannot be named to protect the boy's identity, was jailed six years for the offences in July and August last year.

He had pleaded guilty in May to four counts of sexual assault. Another 11 charges were taken into consideration.

In sentencing, Justice Choo Han Teck took into account the ages of the boy and the man, the man's personal circumstances and his lack of criminal history.

He said: "The accused did not commit any such offences before, and I am of the view that he would not likely repeat these offences which he had committed in a relatively late stage of his life." - DC