SINGAPORE, Dec 12 — Chu Ben Wee started filming up women’s skirts and watching the videos for his own pleasure while studying in a top junior college.
He stopped doing this during his medical undergraduate days at the National University of Singapore, but started again when he started work at public hospitals.
Chu cut a hole at the front of his shoe, hid a GoPro camera in it and positioned his foot under the skirts of doctors and nurses.
He also managed to gain entry into a junior college career fair by wearing a school uniform that he bought from e-commerce platform Carousell.
He managed to take 97 videos there before a student caught him.
Chu pleaded guilty yesterday to four counts of insulting a woman’s modesty. Another 13 similar charges, including criminal trespass, were taken into consideration for sentencing.
He was sentenced to three years’ jail, which was backdated to his date of remand on January 9 this year.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Sruthi Boppana described Chu as “one of the most prolific and serial upskirt video recorders to come before the courts”.
The authorities found about 3,260 upskirt videos that he had taken in multiple hard drives after he was arrested.
These were among more than 16,000 videos in his electronic devices. He had downloaded the others from various websites, which included videos of women in the toilet or showering.
He had also committed more offences while under investigation and out on police bail.
Wore his ‘special shoes’
The court heard that when he wanted to film up women’s skirts, he wore what he referred to as his “special shoes” and followed women wearing short skirts and dresses whom he found attractive.
He downloaded two mobile applications that gave him a live feed from the hidden camera in his shoe and allowed him to stop and start recording.
Where possible, he also filmed the victims’ faces using his mobile phone.
When he had the urge to masturbate, he did so while watching the videos.
Between 2009 and January 2018, he recorded at least 2,945 upskirt videos using this modus operandi.
Most of these were taken in 2017 and 2018, while he identified 666 that were taken when he was in junior college in 2009 and 2010.
He claimed to have stopped taking videos between 2010 and 2017.
Targeted hospital colleagues
While employed as a medical officer in a hospital between September and December 2017, he took at least 48 upskirt videos of nurses, doctors or staff members who were on duty with him.
When he was working at another hospital from January to April 2018, he took at least 89 videos there.
In January 2018, he was nabbed at a Daiso outlet in Novena Square mall. His victim had felt something touch her ankle and noticed him standing close to her while holding his phone close to his abdomen.
She squatted down, pretending to look at items on a lower shelf, and saw the camera in his shoe.
She immediately confronted him and shouted for help.
Chu apologised to her before police officers arrived.
During investigations, he confessed to filming his colleagues in the past and taking videos at other stores in the mall that day.
Re-offended twice
While investigations were ongoing, Chu continued taking more upskirt videos. \In April 2019, when he was serving his National Service as a clerk, he bought more devices and a pair of shoes.
He took 231 videos of 184 victims before he was caught again at Plaza Singapura mall.
He was arrested on April 27, 2019 and released on police bail.
About three months later, he went to a career fair of a junior college in the eastern region of Singapore and went around the hall taking upskirt videos for two hours. When confronted by a teacher and a student, he first claimed that he was from the Ministry of Defence and was manning a booth.
He later claimed he was just a visitor.
When police officers interviewed him, he asserted that he was there simply to attend the fair and wore the uniform so as not to stand out.
The police arrested him after checking his belongings.
Further investigations revealed that he had the school uniforms of two other junior colleges, including his alma mater.
Will continue psychiatric treatment
DPP Boppana sought 37 months’ jail, noting that he had abused the trust of his colleagues.In mitigation, his lawyer Luke Lee asked for 30 months instead.
Chu had been diagnosed in the Institute of Mental Health with paraphilic disorder and major depressive disorder, but doctors found that there was no contributory link between these and his offences.
Lee said Chu has promised to continue his psychiatric treatment.
“When he does recover, he can return to being a beneficial member of society,” the lawyer added.
For each charge of insulting a woman’s modesty, Chu could have been jailed up to a year or fined, or received both penalties. — TODAY
