Serial upskirt offender gets 36 weeks' jail

A SERIAL upskirt offender who recorded videos of women's inner thighs and underwear for five years and of his tenant in the shower was sentenced to 36 weeks' jail yesterday.

Sng Qi Zhi faced a total of 247 charges of insulting modesty.

He committed 47 of those offences, mostly at Daiso in Plaza Singapura, after he was charged last November with the first 200 counts.

The 26-year-old pleaded guilty yesterday to 10 charges, with the remaining 237 taken into consideration.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Chin Jincheng said Sng was arrested at Bugis+ mall in Victoria Street on Dec 18, 2012, for taking upskirt videos of women at Bugis Junction. Police were called.

The mobile phone seized from him was found to contain 36 upskirt videos, while a desktop computer seized from his flat had 1,852 upskirt videos and 76 videos of people showering.

Sng admitted to having recorded a slew of upskirt videos since 2007, targeting females who wore short skirts.

He would place his mobile phone underneath the women's skirts as he walked past or stood behind them.

Sng also further admitted to having recorded multiple videos of a 32-year-old woman living in his place from 2010 until his arrest in 2012.

He would place his phone on top of the toilet door without her knowledge to record the videos.

The student would subsequently transfer the upskirt and showering videos into his personal computer.

Arguing for a total sentence of at least nine months' jail, DPP Chin said the proliferation of technology has led to a rise in insulting of modesty cases.

There is also a risk of such videos being disseminated on the Internet and these clips can be replayed, he said.

Sng's upskirt videos were taken over a prolonged period, the DPP said, adding that such offences were hard to detect. Mr Chin said the showering videos had an added level of intrusiveness.

Sng's lawyer Louis Joseph said his client, who is pursuing a degree in digital systems at the Singapore Institute of Management, was remorseful and had attended counselling to address concerns and issues pertaining to his life.

Sng, who could have been jailed for up to one year and/or fined on each charge, will start his sentence on July 6.

He is out on $15,000 bail.

This article was first published on June 23, 2015.
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