'Upskirt' offender jailed

A man who took an upskirt video of a student at an MRT station was sentenced to 10 days' jail yesterday.

Anson Koh An Sheng, 27, pleaded guilty to insulting the modesty of the 20-year-old woman at Hougang MRT station on Oct 4, 2011.

He recently graduated from National University of Singapore and is due to start a new job next week. He successfully asked to defer his sentence until Tuesday.

Koh, who has since married, committed two other similar offences that year, which were taken into consideration during his sentencing.

The court heard that Koh and the victim, who was in her school uniform, alighted from a train at Hougang MRT station that day.

She was on an escalator leading out of the MRT station when he stood behind her and placed his cellphone under her skirt.

She felt something brushing against her legs and confronted Koh. He denied taking any photos of her.

She made a police report two days later.

Koh's lawyer Adrian Wee said his client was suffering from a major depressive disorder at the time which might have caused him to commit the offences. He has since received counselling and treatment.

He urged the court to calibrate Koh's sentence if it was satisfied that there was an inordinate delay in prosecution. Koh, who had made a full confession after his arrest in October that year, was charged only in February this year.

He could have been jailed for up to one year and/or fined for insulting someone's modesty.

This article was first published on July 12, 2014.
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