A 28-year-old man took a video of a young girl's underwear at the baby product section of a supermarket in April last year, a court heard.

The eight-year-old had been sitting in a shopping cart with her legs parted. A shopper sensed something amiss and raised the alarm.

The man, Wong Jia Wei, was detained by a security guard. Police later found many other upskirt videos of unknown young girls in his mobile phone.

Yesterday, Wong, a Malaysian, was jailed for 20 weeks. He pleaded guilty to 10 out of 18 charges of insulting the modesty of a woman.

The remaining counts, along with one charge each of having an obscene film and having a film without a valid certificate, were taken into consideration in sentencing.

The court heard that since 2012, Wong would record upskirt videos whenever he got the chance.

Said Deputy Public Prosecutor Sharmila Sripathy-Shanaz: "Wong revealed that he had taken numerous upskirt videos of young Chinese girls between six and 10 years of age when he chanced upon them sitting in a manner that inadvertently exposed their panties... he has been taking upskirt videos since 2012."

He would cover the screen of his Sony Xperia phone with a phone cover while filming.

On June 30, 2013, Wong took an upskirt video of a girl who was with her family in the Bugis Village area.

On Sept 15, 2013, he recorded an upskirt video of a girl outside the Starbucks outlet in Bugis Junction.

The next year, on April 12, 2014, Wong did the same thing to a girl at Serangoon Public Library.

A month later, on May 10, he took an upskirt video of a girl who was with her mother on a public bus.

He also filmed girls sitting in shopping trolleys at FairPrice outlets. He took an upskirt video at Bedok Mall on Dec 15, 2013; another at Ang Mo Kio Hub on Jan 26 last year; and yet another at Nex on March 27 last year.

Amir Hussain