On 7 January 2020, a 27-year-old man (“the Accused”) pleaded guilty to 2 counts under section 509 of the Penal Code (Cap 224).
The Accused was first reported by a female part-time staff of the SMRT (“the Complainant”) on 6 May 2019. She was actually alerted by a member of the public sometime in April 2019 that there was a male subject (the Accused in question) loitering around Tanjong Pagar MRT station, taking upskirt videos of various females. The member of the public also provided a photograph of the Accused. As such the Complainant was already on the lookout for the Accused. When she spotted him on 6 May 2019, at about 7:44 am, she immediately called the police. He was apprehended that day, and his mobile phone and laptop were seized.
He faced two charges for incidents on 18 December 2018 and 31 March 2019 respectively. Both incidents involved following closely behind females up the MRT escalators and using the video function on his mobile phone to record up their skirts, capturing their inner thighs and undergarments.
The Accused was represented by Ms Beverly Lim and Ms Gloria James. Criminal Defence lawyers argued for a global sentence of 4 weeks, in light of his mitigating factors, which included his lack of antecedents, lack of any sophisticated modus operandi, cooperation with the authorities, and in particular, his independent and active steps toward rehabilitation.
SENTENCE:
The Accused was sentenced to 4 weeks’ imprisonment per charge, to run concurrently. Under section 509 of the Penal Code, which has since been repealed, he could have been imprisoned for one year, or faced a fine, or both.
