SINGAPORE: A 22-year-old man who filmed upskirt videos of at least 23 women was sentenced to 12 weeks in jail on Monday (May 6).
Kelmen Wong Yew Hui, 22, pleaded guilty to five charges of insulting a woman's modesty and another of possessing obscene films.
AdvertisementThe court heard that Wong took the clips of women between June 2017 and March 2018 at various MRT stations and an overhead bridge, as well as on the bus.
Many of the clips were taken at Buona Vista MRT station and Chinese Garden MRT station.
In some cases, he walked past the women and filmed their faces after taking the upskirt videos.
The most recent incident occurred on Mar 2 last year at Buona Vista MRT station, after Wong noticed a woman in a dark blue skirt.
AdvertisementAdvertisementHe turned on the video recording function of his Samsung S8 mobile phone and followed the woman closely on an up-riding escalator to the East-West Line platform.
He filmed her underwear and inner thighs for 25 seconds, before following her to the queues for a train.
While standing in a queue adjacent to the victim's, Wong used his phone again to film the woman, clearly capturing her face and body from the front, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Yen Seow.
Wong was nabbed after MRT staff in the control station noticed him filming.
EASY TO PREY ON UNSUSPECTING WOMEN: PROSECUTION
Wong later admitted to downloading 201 obscene films from a pornographic website, with the video files stored on his phone and laptop.
"Some of the obscene videos were voyeuristic in nature as they captured the private parts of women trying on undergarments in changing rooms, relieving themselves in toilets or showering in a bathroom," said the prosecution.
He asked for a jail sentence of 14 weeks along with a S$20,000 fine, saying that mobile phones with cameras are easily acquired and that it is "easy to prey on unsuspecting women almost anywhere".
On top of this, Wong filmed the faces of many of the victims and if the footage had been disseminated, it would have caused "unimaginable shame" to the women, said the prosecutor.
Defence lawyer Amarjit Singh Sidhu said his client, who is now serving National Service, cannot afford the "hefty" proposed fine of S$20,000.
He asked instead for eight weeks' jail, urging the judge to consider not only Wong's past - with no previous convictions - but also "his future prospects".
"These videos were only for his personal consumption," he said. "They were not circulated and not uploaded."
Wong was a student at a polytechnic when he committed the offences.
The judge allowed Wong to defer his sentence to this Friday in order to settle his affairs, and ordered his laptop, laptop charger and mobile phone to be forfeited to the police for disposal.
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