Man took upskirt photos of 2 women 2 months after release from prison

SINGAPORE - Two months after he was released from prison for snatch theft, a man used his mobile phone to take upskirt photographs of two women.

On Tuesday (Jan 23) Muhammad Hairuldin Osman, 23, was jailed for three weeks after he admitted to one charge of intruding into the privacy of a 20-year-old woman at a bus stop at Jalan Damai, off Bedok Reservoir Road, on March 6 last year.

As he had re-offended while on a remission order, he was given an enhanced sentence of 21 days for breaching it.

He had been given a year's jail for snatch theft in 2016 and was released on Jan 10 last year on a remisssion order.

A second charge of taking an upskirt photo of a 24-year-old woman in an HDB lift on March 3 was taken into consideration during sentencing.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Derek Ee said that two passers-by spotted Hairudin trying to take an upskirt photograph. Ms Nur Liyana Ahmad, 26, and Mr Teo Chee Seng, 37, were inside an Uber car when they noticed Hairuldin and the 20-year-old at the bus stop.

They saw Hairuldin bend down holding out his mobile phone underneath the woman's dress, with the camera lens facing upwards, and decided to alert the victim .

After stopping the car, the two confronted Hairuldin who denied taking the upskirt photo.

When told that Hairuldin had taken a photograph of her underwear, the victim took the phone from Hairuldin and found an upskirt photo of herself.

Mr Teo detained Hairuldin and Ms Liyana called the police.

Hairuldin's pro bono lawyer Ariel Lim urged the court to impose two weeks' jail instead of the four weeks sought by the prosecution, given Hairuldin's below average range of intellectual functioning. Her client also had selective mutism, an anxiety disorder in which a person who is normally capable of speech cannot speak in specific situations or to specific people.

Hairuldin could have been jailed for up to one year and/or fined for insulting the modesty of a woman.

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