SINGAPORE - A bank executive who took upskirt videos of 17 women, including two colleagues, was jailed for 15 weeks on Monday (Dec 11) and fined $600.

Ong Pang Beng, 36, who faced 19 charges, pleaded guilty to seven charges of insulting the modesty of a woman and one under the Films Act. The remaining 11 charges were taken into consideration in sentencing.

The prosecuting officer, Assistant Superintendent of Police Sulaiman Yusof, said Ong was arrested at Tampines 1, Tampines Central 1, on June 23, 2016 for taking upskirt videos of two women, a 31-year-old and a 20-year-old, at Daiso at the shopping mall.

Ong was at the spectacles section of the shop when he spotted the 31-year-old woman wearing a mid-length dress and had an urge to take an upskirt video of her.

He squatted next to her and pretended to look for items on the shelf. He positioned his Samsung Galaxy Note 5 phone with the camera pointed upwards to record an upskirt video of her.

An employee saw what he did and told the victim, who went to look for Ong.

Ong was leaving the shop when he saw the second victim at the paper bag section, and similarly took an upskirt video of her.

The 20-year-old saw him walking away with his phone in his hand and wanted to follow him but lost sight of him because of the crowd.

He was queuing to pay for his items when the 30-year-old woman asked to see his mobile phone, but he kept looking away. The second victim approached them and took his phone. She found an upskirt video of herself.

The court heard that Ong had taken upskirt videos of three other women, who remained unidentified, at a book store in Tampines Mall, Daiso in Tampines 1, and Watsons at Tampines Mall in April, May and July 2014 respectively. He also took upskirt videos of one unidentified colleague as well as another, identified in court as a 36-year-old, in the same year.

In mitigation, Ong's lawyer T.M. Sinnadurai said his client, who is married with a child, was remorseful and contrite and had fully cooperated with the authorities.

District Judge Adam Nakhoda said there were aggravating factors in this case. He noted that Ong started committing the offences as early as July 2013 and continued until June 2016, a period of almost three years.

The judge gave no weight to Ong's mitigation claim that he committed the offences as a result of tremendous stress, saying that he should have found more "wholesome activity" to cope with the situation.

"It is clear that the accused was fully in control of his action... and I do not think mitigating weight should be accorded,'' the judge said.

Ong could have been jailed for up to one year and/or fined for each charge of insulting the modesty of a woman.