In less than three hours, a married father of two took upskirt videos of 21 women with a pinhole camera attached to his right shoe.

Chua Kar Gee, a 38-year-old renovation contractor, followed his victims at Bugis Village on Dec 31 last year and secretly took pictures.

He was caught that same day by police officers patrolling the area.

Yesterday, he was jailed for 16 weeks after he pleaded guilty to five of 21 charges of insulting modesty.

The court heard that a senior staff sergeant was patrolling the area with his team that afternoon when he saw Chua alone at the bus stop in front of the shopping street, looking in a suspicious manner at girls walking by.

When Chua followed one into Bugis Village, the officer followed him and continued to observe him.

He then saw Chua follow a woman closely and slide his right leg between her legs before walking away.

Chua was detained at Bugis MRT station. He was found with a pinhole camera attached to his right shoe. The device was connected to a mini video camera hidden in his sock.

Further investigation showed that Chua had filmed videos of women's inner thighs and underwear from beneath their skirts that afternoon.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Senthilkumaram Sabapathy said that police statistics showed a clear rise in cases of insulting of modesty - from 571 in 2013 to 629 last year.

"This category of upskirt offences is a genuine menace," he said, seeking eight to 12 weeks' jail to be imposed on each charge.

District Judge Wong Choon Ning said she believed that there had been a rise in such offences as she had seen more of them in court.

Chua could have been jailed for up to one year and/or fined on each charge.

Elena Chong