SINGAPORE, Dec 10 — Law Boon Kaih was filming up the skirt of a man’s 18-year-old girlfriend at a supermarket when he was caught. Then he tried to flee when the man confronted him and asked him to play back the video.
Law also tried to fast-forward to the end of the video but ended up being pinned to the ground by the man, who got a passer-by to call the police.
Yesterday, Law, a 28-year-old Malaysian, pleaded guilty to insulting the teenager’s modesty and possessing obscene films. He was sentenced to five weeks’ jail.
A third charge of taking an upskirt video of another unknown woman at the supermarket was taken into consideration for sentencing. His victim cannot be named due to a court order protecting her identity.
District Judge Adam Nakhoda rejected defence lawyer Wee Hong Shern’s bid for a fine, saying that those who commit upskirt offences will generally receive a custodial sentence.
In mitigation, Wee referred to a psychiatrist’s report stating that there was a causal link between Law’s diagnosis of voyeuristic disorder and his offences.
However, District Judge Nakhoda said that the link was not established by evidence, as the psychiatrist had relied on information that Law gave to his counsellor. There was also no indication that Law’s self-control was diminished or that he suffered from an impulse control disorder, the judge added.
Wanted ‘fresh start’ after girlfriend cheated on him
Wee said that Law moved to Singapore from Malaysia for a fresh start after his girlfriend cheated on him with his best friend.
He works as a restaurant management trainee and “is the only one supporting his ailing parents”, the lawyer added.
The court heard that the incident happened on Aug 29 last year, when Law spotted the victim at the Jurong West outlet of Prime Supermarket and thought she was attractive.
He squatted to film up her skirt while she was picking out vegetables.
At that point, the victim’s boyfriend noticed Law standing very close to her and got suspicions.
Law followed them when they left the section. The man then noticed him squatting again while holding his mobile phone.
Law later left the supermarket and looked at his phone to check if he had successfully taken the upskirt videos.
Seeing this, the victim’s boyfriend stopped him and asked to look at the phone.
Law initially refused but eventually showed him a video. He then tried to fast-forward through it and tried to run away.
The boyfriend detained him until the police arrived.
Law admitted that he had tried to take such videos on at least seven occasions. When he noticed that his female victims were looking at or browsing through something, he would squat down to film them.
During investigations, he further admitted to downloading three obscene videos from the messaging application WeChat in order to masturbate to them. He kept them on his mobile phone.
For insulting a woman’s modesty, Law could have been fined, jailed up to a year, or both. For possessing obscene films, he could have been fined up to S$40,000, jailed up to a year, or both. — TODAY
