SINGAPORE - A 20-year-old man was placed on 15 months' probation on Friday for taking an upskirt video of a woman - and having more than 1,100 obscene films stored in his cellphone and laptop.

Gan Wey Ian was a full-time national serviceman (NSF) when he committed three insulting modesty offences in Tampines and one Films Act offence on Oct 10 last year.

He was described by his lawyer Chia Boon Teck as a "straight A" student for his O and A levels except for one subject.

The court was told that Gan had booked out of army camp and went to Tampines 1 shopping mall to kill time.

He was on the escalator leading from fourth to fifth floor when he saw the 24-year-old victim and her two friends ahead of him.

He decided to take an upskirt video of her using his mobile phone - but her female friend caught him in the act and called the police.

Police arrested him and seized his mobile phone. They raided his home at Mount Sinai Rise and seized his laptop for investigation.

Further forensic investigations were done on the seized phone and laptop which were found to have more than 1,127 obscene films.

Gan, who has just completed his full-time national service, has been diagnosed with impulse control disorder.

Sentencing him to 15 months' probation, District Judge Luke Tan ordered Gan to remain indoors from 10pm to 6am, attend an offence-specific treatment programme, perform 80 hours of community service and banned from any image-capturing device.

Gan's parents executed a $5,000 bond to ensure his good behaviour.

The maximum penalty for insulting modesty is one year's jail and a fine.

Gan could have been fined up to $1,000, but not to exceed in the aggregate $40,000, for each obscene film or jailed for up to 12 months or to both.