Jail for man who took 352 upskirt shots in a year

SINGAPORE: After a man took an upskirt shot of a customer at a Sephora outlet in Bugis, a photo of the offender was disseminated to all the employees in their group chat.

When the man returned to the scene of the crime a month later, he was closely watched by an employee and apprehended once he struck again.

Joshua Leong Woon Kee, 50, was sentenced to eight months' jail on Friday (Nov 11). He pleaded guilty to one charge of insulting women's modesty, with 10 charges taken into consideration.

Investigations revealed that he had taken 352 upskirt videos and photos of women in a single year.

The court heard that Leong had taken 254 upskirt videos and 98 upskirt photos on 352 occasions in 2019. He would target unsuspecting female victims, discreetly positioning his phone to commit the offences.

However, Leong's streak came to an end when he returned to a cosmetics shop where he had committed a previous upskirt offence. 

RECOGNISED BY SEPHORA STAFF

In November 2019, he had taken an upskirt shot of a customer at Sephora in Bugis. A photo of Leong was disseminated to all the staff at the Sephora outlet via their office group chat.

On Dec 14, 2019, Leong returned to the same outlet. A beauty advisor at the cashier area spotted Leong inside the store and observed him.

She saw Leong standing behind a female customer who was wearing a dress. Leong pretended to be talking on his phone, before squatting down as if checking on some beauty products.

However, the beauty advisor saw Leong position his phone with the camera pointing towards a woman. 

The advisor quickly alerted the store manager and a security guard. Leong left the shore, but the security guard gave chase and detained him outside a toilet.

The beauty advisor called the police and Leong was arrested.

Officers later raided Leong's home, and seized his phone and other devices. Multiple upskirt videos and photos were found in his phones and storage devices.

The prosecutor asked for eight months' jail.

PREVIOUS CONVICTIONS

The court heard that Leong had been convicted of similar offences before - in 2006, he was given three weeks' jail for two counts of insulting women's modesty.

In 2018, he was sentenced to 22 weeks' jail for six counts of insulting women's modesty and one count of outrage of modesty.

Defence lawyers Marshall Lim and Gideon Yap of Martin & Partners asked for six months' jail instead for their client.

In mitigation, they said Leong is unmarried and his father had recently died, leaving him and his brother as the sole caretakers for his elderly mother.

The defence said Leong's approach was "rudimentary" and there was no dissemination of the upskirt shots.

Since his arrest in December 2019, Leong has been "determined to reform himself", said the lawyers.

"He is so determined to not repeat his mistakes that he no longer carries a mobile phone with him," they said.