Jail for man who upskirted colleague using phone tied to ankle with rubber band

SINGAPORE — Infatuated with his colleague, a man tied his phone to his ankle with a rubber band and took 15 upskirt videos of her.

The 60-year-old man was jailed for 18 weeks on Wednesday (Nov 10), after pleading guilty to one count of voyeurism.

He cannot be named due to court orders forbidding the identification of the victim and the incident location.

The court heard that the man "developed an infatuation" towards the victim while working with her and "succumbed to temptation" partly due to "immense stress he was facing at work".

Between Feb 7 and Sept 14 last year, the man took 15 upskirt videos of the victim, who was his work subordinate, on 15 occasions.

He alternated between two phones to commit the offences, turning on the video-recording function before tying a phone to his ankle so that the camera faced outwards.

He would then walk to the victim and strike up a conversation with her to distract her while the phone was recording.

The other method was to stand or sit behind the victim, while positioning his ankle — with the phone fastened to it — under the victim's skirt or dress.

After taking the videos, the man would watch them and take screenshots of certain parts "for (his) own pleasure" and "to view later", the prosecutor said.

The victim "felt something amiss" with the man's behaviour and made a police report on Sep 24 last year.

The prosecutor asked for between 20 and 24 weeks' jail, saying that the man repeatedly abused his position of trust and authority as the victim's superior and colleague over more than seven months.

The offences were committed at the workplace, where the victim would least expect to have her modesty violated, he said.

The offender also had "a good working relationship" with the victim, the prosecutor said. However, the man took advantage of both the close physical proximity and degree of trust and authority that he had over the victim by satiating his "infatuation and sexual desire for her".

Defence lawyers Trent Ng and Mark Yeo of Kalco Law asked for between 10 and 12 weeks' jail instead, saying that their client was a first-time offender who has taken "committed steps to reform himself".

They said that the offender has consistently cooperated with the authorities, pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and demonstrated genuine remorse.

"The accused has suffered greatly under his feelings of guilt since investigations into his actions commenced, knowing he had made a huge mistake."

The offender wrote a letter of apology to the victim, and has sought counselling, completing 12 sessions so far.

The lawyers added that the offender's then-supervisor encouraged him to return to work at the same office, but the offender declined to do so "out of consideration for the victim, and from a desire to start afresh in life".

The penalties for voyeurism are a jail term of up to two years, a fine, caning, or any combination of these punishments. CNA

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