14 weeks' jail for voyeur who took upskirt pictures while on bail

SINGAPORE — Nah Yon Shen was sleeping at a void deck of a public housing block in Woodlands on the afternoon of May 14 last year when police officers approached him during their patrols.

While conducting a routine check on his phone to verify his identity, they found three upskirt images of two unknown female victims. He had taken these photos on Feb 19 and March 1 that year.

He was on bail for this offence when he was caught red-handed on Aug 1 this year taking another upskirt image of a 25-year-old.

Nah, a 26-year-old Singaporean, was jailed for 14 weeks and fined S$2,000 on Wednesday (Oct 12), after he pleaded guilty to two charges of voyeurism and another separate charge of using insulting words that caused distress.

Five other charges involving voyeurism and using threatening behaviour were taken into consideration.

As he was unable to pay his fine, he will be jailed for another two weeks.

VOYEURISM INCIDENTS

The court heard that the first upskirt images Nah was caught possessing were taken while he was standing on an escalator behind his victims. Court documents did not state where these photos were taken.

The second time he struck, he was on the escalator going up to an overhead bridge leading towards Golden Mile Tower from Nicoll Highway MRT Station.

This time, Nah was caught in the act by Mr Angus Tay, 23, who was standing behind him on the escalator. After they got off the escalator onto the overhead bridge, Mr Tay told the victim what happened before approaching Nah.

Nah tried to run but was caught by Mr Tay and another bystander, Mr Rawther Fareed, 31. He was then arrested by police officers, who later found another three upskirt images of other unknown female victims on Nah’s phone.

INSULTING COLLEAGUE

Separately on April 16 in 2020, Nah, who was then working at NTUC FairPrice supermarket in Bedok Mall, insulted his female colleague when they were having a smoking break.

During the break, Nah took her cigarette pack and placed it in his pants near his crotch. When she asked for her cigarette pack back, he asked her to perform a sex act on him. 

She made a police report the next day.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Kiera Yu said that Nah taking the upskirt image in a busy public area such as the Nicoll Highway MRT Station “highlights the brazenness of the accused’s conduct and his disregard for law and order”.

She added that his repeated behaviour of taking upskirt images showed his lack of remorse, and him doing this while on bail was a "blatant abuse of trust".

Nah’s lawyer Kalaithasan Karuppaya said that the 26-year-old had tried to seek psychotherapy help for his offences, and was apologetic of his actions.

He also asked for his sentence to be backdated to Aug 18 this year — from when Nah was first remanded.

District Judge Bala Reddy granted this request.

Anyone convicted of voyeurism can be jailed for up to two years, fined, caned, or given any combination of the three.

For using insulting words causing distress, Nah could have been fined up to S$5,000.