SINGAPORE - While riding on an escalator at Jurong Point 2, a woman felt something brush against the bottom of her dress.

The 28-year-old turned around and saw Chen Wei Han holding a mobile phone under her dress. She grabbed his hand and with the help of a stranger got Chen, 25, to ensure the visuals he had taken were deleted.

On Wednesday (Feb 28), the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) doctoral candidate was sentenced to two weeks' jail.

The incident took place at the Jurong West Central 2 mall at 11.30pm on Nov 2.

The court heard that Chen had finished shopping at NTUC FairPrice when he spotted the victim who he found to be pretty. He decided to follow her so that he could take an upskirt video, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Lee Zu Zhao.

While she was riding down the escalator to Level 1 of the mall, he stood behind her and placed his phone under her dress while it was in video recording mode.

After the victim confronted him, Chen handed over his phone and admitted taking a video of her. He deleted it when she demanded him to do so.

Shaken, the woman sought help from a 42-year-old man and asked him to ensure that any photos or videos taken by the Taiwanese were deleted.

Chen refused to give his identity to the man and gave instead his NTU name card. He told the victim and the man that he would not do it again.

They then allowed him to leave and the police were alerted.

When Chen was interviewed by the police later, he admitted taking similar upskirt videos of five other women on different occasions in October last year to "de-stress", said DPP Lee.

No photos or videos from any of the victims were found in his phone as he had deleted them.

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