Man jailed 4 weeks for taking two upskirt videos at Woodlands Checkpoint

SINGAPORE — A 31-year-old Malaysian man who twice filmed upskirt videos of another Malaysian at Woodlands Checkpoint was sentenced to four weeks’ jail in a district court on Thursday (Dec 12).

Leong Sau Chung pleaded guilty to one charge of insulting the 36-year-old woman’s modesty with another charge taken into consideration for sentencing.

The court heard that Leong, who worked as a storekeeper in Singapore, began following the victim after alighting at the Woodlands bus terminal on the evening of Aug 15.

He first took an upskirt video of her while walking directly behind her up a flight of stairs. He then followed her to the escalator heading up to the departure hall of the checkpoint and took a second video, which was 44 seconds long.

Two Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officers were reporting for duty when they spotted Leong behaving suspiciously. They saw him aiming his mobile phone under the woman’s skirt.

One of the officers immediately told nearby police officers what they had seen while the other officer stopped Leong from leaving the area.

Upon checking his phone, they found the two videos of the victim.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Chong Yong sought the sentence imposed, telling the court that even though it seemed that Leong committed his offences in a spur of the moment, he had “followed the victim for a certain amount of time”.

Leong — who did not have a lawyer — pleaded for a fine instead, saying in Mandarin through an interpreter that he would not do it again.

District Judge Adam Nakhoda rejected this, noting that custodial sentences are usually imposed for such upskirt offences.

For insulting the modesty of a woman, Leong could have been jailed for up to a year, fined or both.