SINGAPORE - A man was trying on some clothes in a fitting room at a clothing store when he decided to film a woman changing in the next room.
After filming the 21-year-old tertiary student, Darren Tan Yong Xing felt emboldened and decided to remain in the fitting room at Cotton On in VivoCity mall to take a video of another woman.
But the 26-year-old full-time national serviceman was caught red-handed.
He was sentenced to 12 weeks' jail on Tuesday (Oct 31) after he admitted to one count of insulting the modesty of a woman on April 30, 2016, and one of attempting to do so at Yio Chu Kang MRT station on July 14, 2014.
He was fined $2,000 for having four obscene films at the Cotton On shop on April 30, 2016. Five other charges were taken into consideration in sentencing.
The court heard that while he was trying on some clothes at the store some time past 3.30pm on April 30, 2016, he noticed a woman entering the room next to his. He found her attractive and decided to film her changing. After the woman left, he stayed to try his luck.
At about 4.30pm, the 21-year-old student entered the fitting room next to Tan's to try on lingerie.
She noticed Tan holding his mobile phone under the partition with the screen facing up and in recording mode.
When he realised that the woman had spotted him, Tan quickly left the changing room but was detained by the victim outside. She called out to Cotton On staff for help.
When police checked Tan's phone, they found a video clip of the victim topless, along with a number of other obscene videos. Tan admitted that he downloaded these videos from the Internet. Four were later found to be obscene.
Tan committed the 2016 offences when he was still under a conditional 12-month stern warning for attempting to take an upskirt video of a 32-year-old bank officer at Yio Chu Kang MRT station on July 14, 2014.
The court heard that he had followed the woman on the upriding escalator at the station at 7.40am as he felt the urge to take an upskirt photo of her.
While on the escalator, the woman felt that someone was standing close behind her and felt a tugging sensation at the lower half of her dress. Just before reaching the platform, she turned around and saw Tan holding his mobile phone beneath her dress.
Shocked, he rushed onto the MRT platform and ran down the stairs before the woman could stop him. The police managed to establish his identity and arrested him later.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Chee Ee Ling told District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt on Tuesday that Tan had been given a chance in 2014 to rehabilitate himself but had not done so. Instead, he committed more aggravating offences, with multiple victims involved, in 2016 while still under a conditional 12-month warning not to commit any offence.
Tan could have been jailed for up to one year and/or fined for insulting the modesty of a woman. For possessing an obscene film, he could have been jailed for up to six months or fined at least $500 for each film.
