Lai Zi Yang, 26, was sentenced to 28 days’ jail after pleading guilty to one charge of taking voyeuristic images without consent. - ST
SINGAPORE: A man who was caught taking upskirt photos of an MRT commuter was later found to have more than 100 such images in his possession.
Lai Zi Yang, who registered his marriage in May, was on June 9 sentenced to 28 days’ jail after pleading guilty to one charge of taking voyeuristic images without consent. Another similar charge was taken into consideration during his sentencing.
The incident happened on Nov 1, 2024, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Teng Yin Hang.
Lai, 26, was travelling from Jalan Besar to meet his friend for dinner when he exited the train at Tampines MRT station.
While going up on an escalator at the station, he spotted a woman dressed in a skirt in front of him.
Lai was often tempted to take upskirt photos whenever he saw women dressed in short skirts in close proximity to him.
The court heard that while riding the escalator, he placed his phone on his knees with its camera lens facing upwards, aiming the lens at the bottom of the victim’s skirt, and snapped a total of 14 upskirt photos.
Another commuter saw what Lai was doing and confronted him before alerting the victim, who decided to make a police report.
Investigations later revealed that he had taken upskirt photos of at least 10 other women.
More than 100 such images were later found in his possession.
Lai admitted that he would use his phone to take the photos, before transferring them into a passcode-locked folder on the phone.
After the images were transferred into the secure folder, they would be automatically deleted from his phone’s photo gallery.
Lai said he looked at the images when he was alone at home or in a toilet.
In mitigation, Lai’s lawyer Low Chun Yee said his client, who was only recently married, is waiting for the keys to his Build-To-Order (BTO) flat.
Low said Lai is a relatively young offender, adding: “He knows what he has done is wrong and has gone for voluntary treatment. He will continue to do so.”
District Judge John Ng said Lai had demonstrated a pattern of such behaviour, noting that more than 100 images were found on him during the course of investigation.
The judge added that such offences are usually very difficult to detect, and said a strong warning message had to be sent to like-minded people who might otherwise commit similar offences.
Those found guilty of voyeurism can be jailed for up to two years, fined, caned, or face any combination of these punishments. - The Straits Times/ANN
