Teen had 173 upskirt photos of victims

He had amassed 173 upskirt photos and six similar videos of unsuspecting women.

The teen's offences were serious enough to see him put behind bars.

But yesterday, Clemence Koh Junxiang, 18, a polytechnic student, was given a second chance at salvaging his future.

He was given 24 months' probation and ordered to perform 150 hours of community service.

He was also ordered by the court not to use a mobile phone with an in-built camera during his probation.

The Ngee Ann Polytechnic first-year-student had faced 62 charges - one of criminal trespass and 61 of intending to outrage the modesty of a woman.

On Jan 30, Koh saw a woman walk into a toilet at Pearl's Centre at Eu Tong Sen Street at about 6.45pm and followed her.

The woman spotted him holding the phone below the partition between the cubicles and ran out, alerting her colleagues. Koh was arrested by police there.

Investigations revealed that by then, Koh had taken a total of 173 photos and six videos, all upskirt shots, all of which were retrieved from his phone and laptop.

CAUGHT

Koh frequented the Daiso outlet in Chinatown Point and various Popular bookstores, court papers said.

He would approach his victims and place his phone under the women's skirts or dresses to take pictures and videos.

Last month, Koh pleaded guilty to six outrage of modesty charges, with the rest taken into consideration for sentencing.

In mitigation, defence counsel Anil Lalwani said that Koh was from a supportive middle-income family.

Community Court Judge Lim Keng Yeow said the offences were serious enough to warrant a jail term.

But Judge Lim said he was prepared to give Koh a chance and that he had to stop his habits of the past for the sake of his future. For each outrage of modesty charge, Koh could have been jailed up to a year and fined.

rloh@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on July 14, 2015.
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