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

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

He was jailed for a year for snatch theft in 2016 and was released on Jan 10 last year on a remisssion order.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Derek Ee said two passers-by spotted Hairuldin trying to take an upskirt photograph. Ms Nur Liyana Ahmad, 26, and Mr Teo Chee Seng, 37, were in an Uber car when they saw Hairuldin bending down while holding his mobile phone under the woman's dress.

After stopping the car, the two confronted Hairuldin, who denied taking an upskirt photo. When told what Hairuldin had done, the victim took the phone from him 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 her client's below-average range of intellectual functioning. The lawyer said Hairuldin 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.