SINGAPORE: An unemployed man took two upskirt photographs of a 25-year-old woman at the escalator of a shopping mall.
Less than five minutes before that, William Jefferson Fong intruded into the privacy of another woman, aged 30, at the escalator connecting Level 3 and 4 of Block 10 Tampines Central 1 ,Tampines One shopping centre.
This was taken into consideration when he was jailed for two weeks on Tuesday .
The 56-year-old had pleaded guilty to taking the two upskirt photographs of the 25-year-old woman at the escalator by positioning his camera phone underneath her skirt at 12.52pm on Jan 20 this year.
The woman had felt something touching the back of her thighs. She then turned around and saw Fong standing close behind her. His right leg was on a higher step so that he could position his mobile phone on his knee. The camera lens was facing up, underneath her skirt.
Just before being found out, he had taken two upskirt photographs of the woman.
When confronted, he denied taking any photographs. She called the police, who found the upskirt photographs in his phone.
After his arrest, Fong admitted to taking the two photographs and that he had been taking such photographs for 11/2 years.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Soh Weqi had sought at least a month's jail to be imposed, citing aggravating factors such as degree of planning and pre-meditation. She said both offences were committed within a short span of less than five minutes. She also said such offences can be committed easily with a mobile phone and not always detected.
"Hence, we need to send a strong signal to deter such criminal acts,'' she said.
District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan said he had trawled the Lawnet as well as court records, and found a wide variety of sentences for cases involving the taking of upskirt photos.
He found that there was planning in this case, and disagreed with Fong's lawyer that it was committed on the "spur of the moment''.
Fong could have been jailed for up to one year and fined for insulting the modesty of a woman. - The Straits Times/ANN
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