Upskirter busted by victim's boyfriend, gets jail

SINGAPORE: A 29-year-old man who took upskirt photographs of a woman was nabbed after her boyfriend saw him in the act and nabbed him.

For one charge of insulting a woman's modesty, and two other charges taken into consideration, Tan Sheng Hao was sentenced to five weeks' jail on Thursday (Nov 7).

The court heard that the man was at Bukit Panjang MRT Station on the evening of Feb 1 this year.

At about 7.20pm, he took an escalator up from the station to the street level, and was three steps behind the 17-year-old victim.

The girl was with her boyfriend at the time, and Tan saw both of them together.

He then "got curious about the colour and design of the victim's underwear", said Deputy Public Prosecutor Regina Lim.

He turned on the camera mode of his phone and began walking up the right side of the escalator, passing the couple on his left.

As he did so, he placed the phone under the victim's skirt, taking six photos.

The girl's boyfriend saw Tan and suspected that he had taken photos of his girlfriend. He went after Tan and saw that the phone was in camera mode.

He caught up with Tan at the end of the escalator, took the phone from him and called 999.

The police arrived shortly after, seized the phone and found six upskirt photos.

Tan had also taken such pictures of another victim at Toa Payoh MRT station earlier that day.

For intruding on a woman's privacy to insult her modesty, Tan could have been jailed for up to a year, fined, or both.

His phone was forfeited to the police for disposal.