Man jailed 12 weeks for taking upskirt videos of women on public transport

SINGAPORE - A man who took upskirt videos of five women mostly on public transport was jailed for 12 weeks on Thursday (Dec 14).

Chia Yew Boon, 50, now unemployed, admitted to three charges of insulting the modesty of a woman on public transport in June 2016.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Ashraf Hassan said investigations showed that on June 3 last year, Chia intruded into the privacy of an unknown woman by using his mobile phone to record two videos of her inner thighs and underwear on board an MRT train travelling between Woodlands and Pioneer stations.

Later that afternoon, he was on a bus when he recorded two videos of a woman in school attire, of her inner thighs and underwear.

Three days later on June 6, while he was on the train travelling between Jurong East and Clementi MRT stations, he saw a 33-year-old woman standing beside him in the middle of the carriage. He decided to record an upskirt video of her as he found her attractive.

He took out his phone, switched on the video recording function and aimed the lens under her skirt to record an upskirt video.

A few minutes later, a 25-year-old male commuter confronted Chia and demanded to check his mobile phone but he refused to hand it over. The man then alerted the victim.

Further investigations showed that the victim was on her way to work when the witness tapped her on her shoulder to alert her to what Chia had done.

The victim and the witness confronted Chia and demanded to check his phone but he denied taking any upskirt video and refused to let them do so.

The duo told Chia to alight and SMRT staff later called the police. Chia was arrested.

Two other charges were taken into consideration in sentencing.

Chia, represented by Mr Amarjit Singh Sidhu, could have been jailed for up to one year and/or fined for each charge of insulting a woman's modesty.

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