6 months' jail for voyeur who took upskirt videos of 142 women over 10 months

SINGAPORE — A 39-year-old man who took upskirt videos of 142 female victims over 10 months was sentenced to six months’ jail on Wednesday (Dec 14).

Tan Han Chek, a Malaysian, used his mobile phone to record videos of the unidentified victims between September 2020 and July 2021, often doing so on escalators and stairs at MRT stations.

He pleaded guilty to one count of voyeurism.

Tan was arrested on July 6 last year when police officers on patrol during the morning peak period spotted him behaving suspiciously as he rode up an escalator at Clementi MRT Station.

Tan was standing closely behind an unidentified woman and had placed his phone on his right thigh, which he positioned between her legs.

The police officers were walking down a flight of stairs next to the escalator at that point of time. 

Upon seeing Tan’s act, they headed back up the stairs to intercept and detain him. But in the morning rush crowd, they lost track of the woman, who appeared to be unaware of what was happening.

Tan was later arrested and his phone seized. A forensic examination revealed that 142 voyeuristic videos were stored in the phone taken of female victims wearing skirts, dresses and sometimes shorts.

None of the victims have been identified.

When confronted with the evidence, Tan admitted to taking all the videos for his own “viewing pleasure”, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Joshua Phang said. 

Seeking at least seven months’ jail, DPP Phang emphasised the seriousness of voyeurism offences, adding that Tan had a modus operandi that clearly reflected premeditation and planning on his part.

Tan’s lawyer Audrey Koo sought a mandatory treatment order — a community sentencing option offered to offenders suffering from mental conditions that contributed to the offence.

Ms Koo submitted a psychiatric report stating that Tan was suffering from persistent depressive disorder and that his mental disorder worsened since the beginning of 2020 when he started having suicidal thoughts.

“According to the doctor, the acts were irrational and served no purpose,” said the lawyer from Populus Law Corporation.

“(They) did not provide any sexual arousal or release.”

DPP Phang argued that this psychiatric report should be given limited weight as it was based entirely on Tan’s self-reporting of his symptoms to the doctor. 

He also said that Tan had already admitted to taking the video for his own viewing pleasure, which was at odds with the doctor’s assessment that the videos served no purpose. 

Furthermore, there was no need for a mandatory treatment order given that he is already undergoing treatment from his doctor, he added.

District Judge Eddy Tham ruled that mandatory treatment order as well as other community-based sentencing options proposed by the defence was not appropriate for this case.

Tan will begin his sentence on Jan 26.