Man who took upskirt videos of women at MRT station escalators jailed 9 weeks
SINGAPORE — A man who took upskirt videos of several women at MRT station escalators was jailed nine weeks on Monday (5 August).
Low Zhi Ying, 25, pleaded guilty in the State Courts to five counts of insulting the modesty of a woman at five different MRT stations.
The rest of the former customer relationship officer's 21 charges, which involved taking upskirt videos of other unidentified women, were taken into consideration for his sentencing.
Low was caught when a man on the same escalator, Blakie Alan James, noticed him in the act and shouted to alert the victim.
On 12 June last year, at around 8.20am, a 28-year-old woman was ascending an escalator at
Telok Blangah MRT Station when Low saw her. Pretending to tie his shoelace, Low bent down and placed his phone's camera lens under the woman's skirt. He turned on the video-recording function of his phone and managed to capture a 20-second-long video of the victim’s inner thighs.
His actions were seen by James, who asked Low what he was doing, and shouted at the victim to alert her. Low rushed to delete the video. It could not be found when James and the victim demanded to inspect his phone.
Low was detained and the police were alerted. After police officers arrived at the scene, they inspected Low's phone and discovered numerous indecent photographs and videos.
They found the video with the victim in Low's deleted files folder in his phone.
Low used the same method when he targeted four other women while ascending the escalators at Outram Park MRT Station, Jurong East MRT Station, Expo MRT Station and Chinatown MRT Station, between 2 and 5 June.
For the victim at Jurong East MRT Station, Low also took a surreptitious photograph of her face and dress.
Between March and June last year, Low took 26 upskirt videos of women.
"(Low) admitted that taking the videos gave him excitement," said Deputy Public Prosecutor Victoria Ting, who sought nine weeks' for Low.
Low's lawyer Christine Chuah said her client was remorseful and has since contributed to society through volunteer work.
Low has voyeuristic disorder and adjustment disorder which he is seeking treatment for, said Chuah, who asked for six weeks' jail for her client.
However, DPP Ting pointed out that Low's conditions did not play a role in him committing the offences.
For each count of insulting the modesty of a woman, Low could have been jailed up to a year, and fined, or both.
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