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Upskirter stopped after seeing the news about similar crimes, but reoffended as he could not restrain himself

Upskirter stopped after seeing the news about similar crimes, but reoffended as he could not restrain himself

Photo illustration of a man taking upskirt photos. (Photo: Jeremy Long)

SINGAPORE: A serial upskirter who took illicit photos of women since 2013 stopped his crimes briefly in late 2017, after seeing the news about other men who were caught for upskirt photos.

However, he was unable to restrain himself and resumed taking such photos and videos again in August 2018. In total, he targeted 133 victims over about six years.

Joseph Lee Kwong Meng, 42, was sentenced on Monday (Dec 6) to 28 weeks' jail. He pleaded guilty to three counts of insulting a woman's modesty, with another five charges taken into consideration.

The court heard that Lee, a project engineer, took multiple photos and videos up women's skirts and down their blouses from 2013 to 2019.

He would typically stand behind a victim on an up riding escalator at a train station and angle his phone up her dress, skirt or shorts. He would also squat down and film up women's skirts while they browsed items in shopping malls.

Lee would carry out these offences before and after his work, saving copies of the footage on his laptop and reviewing them afterwards.

He did so from 2013 until late 2017 or early 2018, when he saw in the news that others had been arrested for taking upskirt photos, the prosecutor said.

"He was afraid of getting caught and stopped taking such photographs and videos," she said. "However, he was unable to restrain himself and started taking such upskirt photographs again in August 2018, and proceeded to reoffend numerous times thereafter."

ALERT WOMAN FLAGS HIS BEHAVIOUR TO TRAIN STAFF

Lee was caught in July 2019. He boarded a train along the Circle Line on the morning of Jul 4, 2019, when he noticed a 25-year-old woman.

Finding her attractive, he recorded a video of her face on his phone. The woman noticed this from the reflection of the train door.

When she alighted at Bras Basah MRT Station, Lee followed suit, recording a video of her back. The woman entered the lift to go to the exit gantry, and Lee entered the lift as well, staring at her.

The woman exited the gantry and took a detour from her usual route, with Lee on her tail. She went to the SMRT duty station manager and told him that Lee was following her and taking pictures of her.

The manager said he would observe Lee, and the woman continued on her way, taking an up riding escalator towards the train station exit. Lee stood two to three steps behind her, holding out his phone to record a video of her.

The station manager then confronted Lee at the exit and asked to see his phone. He found images of the woman in Lee's photo gallery and called the police.

Lee was arrested later that day, with the police raiding his house and seizing his devices. A total of 360 obscene films were found in them.

The prosecutor asked for between 32 weeks and 40 weeks' jail, noting the long period of six years over which the offences were committed, save for the short break in early 2018.

There were 133 victims involved and Lee was caught while targeting a 134th, she said.

For each charge of insulting a woman's modesty, he could have been jailed for up to a year, fined, or both.

Source: CNA/ll(mi)

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