NTU student jailed 18 weeks for filming up women's skirts, shorts
UPDATE: Nanyang Technological University has responded to queries from Yahoo News Singapore.
SINGAPORE — A Nanyang Technological University (NTU) student was sentenced to 18 weeks’ jail on Wednesday (18 December) for filming up the skirts and shorts of women both off and on campus over nine months last year.
Chong Yen Bin, then a third-year student at the university, claimed that his actions were brought on by pressure over his studies.
The 24-year-old was caught when a man noticed him closely trailing an unknown woman and holding his phone in a suspicious manner.
Chong pleaded guilty to six out of 26 counts of insulting a woman’s modesty, with the remaining counts taken into consideration for his sentencing.
Tailed victim
On 19 September, Chong was heading towards the taxi stand at Toa Payoh Central, intending to take a taxi back to the NTU campus after giving tuition.
While near the taxi stand, he spotted a woman wearing shorts which partially revealed her buttocks. He then followed her and positioned her phone beneath her shorts to capture her buttocks.
At about 6.40pm, a passerby named Yusman Yusoff noticed Chong behaving suspiciously in the vicinity of the Toa Payoh Bus Interchange. He noticed Chong following closely behind the woman, but later lost sight of him.
Yusman then informed the Public Transport Security Command (TransCom) officers on duty in the area about what he had seen.
About half an hour later, Yusman and the TransCom officers spotted Chong again at the Toa Payoh MRT Station and detained him. Other police officers arrived at the scene later.
A search through Chong’s smartphone revealed several videos of unknown women’s underwear or glimpses of their bare buttocks. Chong was arrested.
A forensic examination revealed 26 videos of the same nature stored on his smartphone. He had taken the videos between 23 January and 10 September last year.
Chong admitted that, since the beginning of last year, he had started taking videos of women featuring glimpses of their buttocks as he felt stressed over his studies.
He claimed he was “addicted” to looking at women’s buttocks and would position his phone beneath the skirts or shorts of women in order to take videos to satisfy his desires.
Chong targeted women at various locations across the island, including MRT stations and on campus. It was not stated in court documents how many victims were captured in his recordings.
Apologised in court for actions
Dressed in blue long-sleeved shirt, the bespectacled Chong apologised to the court for his actions.
“I’m a student. I’m very sorry for what I’ve done but if possible I just want to finish my education, thank you,” he said. Chong was unrepresented in court.
An NTU spokesperson confirmed that Chong is still currently a student at the university.
“Mr Chong Yen Bin committed the offence in 2018 and is still currently a student at the University,” the spokesperson said in a media statement to Yahoo News Singapore.
“NTU takes a serious view of students engaging in criminal conduct. Students who are found guilty of such conduct by the courts will be subject to disciplinary proceedings which may lead to the student being expelled or suspended from the University.
“The University is unable to provide details regarding specific cases because of confidentiality.”
For each count of insulting the modesty of a woman, Chong could have been jailed up to one year, fined, or both.
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