Two sentenced to jail for upskirt offences

Navy operations supervisor Glenn Goh Wei Liang, 28, was jailed for 18 weeks. 47 upskirt videos of 46 women were found in his cellphone and laptop after he was arrested on July 2 last year. ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW

A navy operations supervisor took upskirt videos of nearly 50 women over a period of about 10 months, including three women on the day he was arrested.

An auditor took similar videos of 17 women in about a month.

Both men were sentenced for insulting the modesty of women in separate cases yesterday.

Navy operations supervisor Glenn Goh Wei Liang, 28, was jailed for 18 weeks. He had pleaded guilty to 10 of 46 charges.

After his arrest on July 2 last year, 47 upskirt videos of 46 women were found in his cellphone and laptop.

The court heard that he was shopping for groceries at The Rail Mall in Upper Bukit Timah Road at around 6.30pm that day when he saw a 29-year-old woman browsing alone in the supermarket.

After setting his phone to video recording mode, he placed it under the victim's skirt. Her boyfriend caught him in the act and detained him while she called the police.

She was his third victim that day.

He had taken videos of a woman at the same supermarket, and another at Subway at the Rail Mall.

Goh had been taking upskirt videos of women from as early as Oct 2, 2015, the court heard. In passing sentence, District Judge Lorraine Ho said stress was not an excuse for committing the offences.

In another court, 27-year-old auditor Matthew Lee Hui Guan was jailed for 10 weeks for taking upskirt videos of 17 women, and fined $500 for having an obscene film.

He admitted to five counts of insulting the modesty of a woman and one under the Films Act.

Thirteen other charges were considered during his sentencing.

He was arrested on March 22 this year after a commuter at Newton MRT station caught him in the act and sought the help of station personnel who detained Lee.

Lee deleted the upskirt videos of the victim before the police arrived.

Forty-seven video files, containing voyeurism as well as uncensored and obscene films, were recovered from his computer.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Chee Ee Ling said Lee had been committing such offences since February when he saw a "hot girl'' at Beauty World MRT station and was curious as to what she was wearing underneath her skirt.

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

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on November 21, 2017, with the headline Two sentenced to jail for upskirt offences. Subscribe