NTU student jailed for taking upskirt videos of friends, internship colleagues

SINGAPORE: A Nanyang Technological University (NTU) student was sentenced to 15 weeks' jail on Tuesday (Jan 8) for taking upskirt videos of multiple women.

The 24-year-old, who cannot be named to protect the identities of the victims, illicitly filmed at least seven different women between May and July 2017.

Some of the women were his friends, while the others included his colleagues at an accounting firm he had interned at.

The man, who completed his final year in accountancy in May last year, has yet to graduate as the university has withheld his results, said defence lawyer Kelvin Ong.

He pleaded guilty to six charges of insulting a woman's modesty, with another 12 charges taken into consideration.

The court heard that the man became interested in upskirt videos after he came across them on the Sammyboy website. On one occasion, the man was searching the site for pornographic material and came across a thread discussion about a smartphone application that allows mobile phone users to turn off the display screen while recording a video.

He then downloaded the application on his phone and recorded at least 17 upskirt videos, as well as one video aimed down a woman's blouse.

ILLICIT VIDEOS TAKEN ON MALL ESCALATOR, ACCOUNTING FIRM

The videos he took include one of a woman on an escalator at Cathay Cineleisure Orchard. One victim was part of a group posing for a photograph at a cafe, while another woman was at a birthday party.

He also took videos of his colleagues at the accounting firm he had interned at. The name of the accounting firm was redacted from court documents.

One of these women, a 24-year-old tax associate, was giving him some advice about work-related matters at his desk when he placed his phone under her skirt and took a video of her.

His actions were discovered after he took another upskirt video of a 28-year-old senior tax associate at the firm in July 2017.

The woman had felt his black Samsung Galaxy S8 smartphone brush against her thigh, but thought it was accidental. It was only after her manager told her that he had been behaving suspiciously that she confronted him and asked to see his phone.

He gave it to her and she found an upskirt video of herself, and her face visible, in his phone, along with clips of other women.

The human resource deputy director at the firm then reported the incident to the police.

ACCUSED DIAGNOSED WITH VOYEURISM, IS REMORSEFUL AND ASHAMED

The man stood with his head bowed in court on Tuesday, as his defence lawyer told the judge that he had been diagnosed with voyeurism and was remorseful and ashamed.

In response, Deputy Public Prosecutor Kong Kuek Foo said that the man's mental condition did not rob him of his self-control.

The defence said that the young man had voluntarily sought treatment at the Institute of Mental Health almost immediately after his arrest and has apologised in person to at least one of the victims.

He claimed to have since lost interest in taking or viewing upskirt videos and has turned to music and voluntary work in church.

He has not been able to graduate, said the defence, and his reputation is "in tatters".

Speaking to the man, District Judge Kessler Soh said: "These offences you have committed, taking videos of young women ... are very wrong."

Sniffling and appearing distraught, the man answered: "I understand, your honour."

The judge said he would have given the man a higher sentence had it not been for his relatively young age and potential future prospects.

He allowed him 10 minutes with his relatives before being taken away to serve his sentence, and his handphone was forfeited to be destroyed.

In a statement after the sentencing, an NTU spokesperson said: "NTU does not condone such behaviour. NTU’s student code of conduct clearly sets out the university’s expectations that students maintain high standards of ethical and civil conduct. 

"Now that the court proceedings have concluded, the student will be referred to the university’s disciplinary procedure for appropriate action."