Ex-lecturer jailed over upskirt videos of student
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Shaffiq Alkhatib Court Correspondent, Shaffiq Alkhatib
A former lecturer of a post-secondary institution who shot upskirt videos of a female student was sentenced yesterday to eight weeks' jail.
The man, his victim and their school cannot be named due to a gag order to protect her identity.
The 39-year-old Singaporean pleaded guilty on June 15 to insulting the woman's modesty.
At his request, the pair had met in a vacant classroom on March 6 last year.
After chatting for a while, he asked her to help him prepare for a class activity by posing as a model. He said he would be using his mobile phone to take the photos, which would be used in the instructions for the class activity.
When she agreed, he instructed her to pose blindfolded with a handkerchief and with her feet apart. Deputy Public Prosecutor Derek Ee had earlier said the student felt uncomfortable but did not question her lecturer.
After she blindfolded herself and posed, the man took a photo from behind her. He then approached her, put his phone between her legs and recorded a video. The student subsequently felt uncomfortable, turned around and took off her blindfold.
The DPP added: "To her surprise, she saw the accused squatting right behind her, holding his mobile phone in between her legs, with the screen facing upwards."
She closed her legs, returned the handkerchief to him and left.
Feeling uncomfortable about what her lecturer had done, she returned shortly after to confront him and demanded to see his phone. He agreed but walked over slowly while deleting the videos.
He let her see a photo showing her from the back, which he claimed was the only one he took.
Later that day, the student told her guardian about the incident. After the lecturer failed to pick up her guardian's calls, she texted him saying that her guardian wished to speak with him.
He texted back saying the incident was a "misunderstanding" and that he had fumbled with his phone while adjusting it to take a photo. He added that he had ended up catching it while it was facing up and with the flash on.
She lodged a police report in the evening of the same day.
The man eventually admitted to the police to taking two upskirt videos of the student and deleting them after. He also admitted he had taken other upskirt videos of his students on several occasions.
