28-year-old Brandon Wan Yeu Herng was sentenced to 5 weeks imprisonment on Wednesday after pleading guilty to one charge of tasking two upskirt videos of a woman without her consent. with two other charges being considered during his sentencing.
The victim cannot be revealed due to a court order protecting her identity.
What happened?
According to Deputy Public Prosecutor Tung Shou Pin, the incident occurred on the morning of July 29 last year. Upon disembarking from a bus at a stop near Clementi MRT Station, Wan noticed the victim heading in the same direction. Succumbing to the temptation to film her, Wan decided to record an upskirt video.
Wan positioned the back of his mobile phone against a book he was carrying, with the phone camera facing upward. He then stood behind the woman as they rode the escalator, moving his phone closer to capture an upskirt video beneath her dress.
Continuing to follow closely, Wan accompanied the woman as they entered the MRT station’s concourse and passed through the gantries. On the subsequent escalator, Wan once again stood directly behind her and filmed a second upskirt video.
A witness named Mr. Wesley Sim observed Wan secretly filming the victim on both occasions and chose to tail them. While on the MRT platform, Mr. Sim intervened, informing the woman that Wan had been recording upskirt videos of her. Startled, Wan offered to delete the videos, but Mr. Sim demanded that he surrender his mobile phone.
Mr. Sim then showed the victim the evidence of Wan’s actions. Subsequently, both Mr. Sim and the woman approached officers from the Public Transport Security Command, who apprehended Wan.
Upskirt news “piqued his interest”
The court learned that Wan had been consuming voyeuristic content through Telegram group channels since 2021. Following his arrest, snapshots from the voyeuristic videos, along with two additional upskirt videos captured on July 13 at Bayfront MRT Station and on July 27 at Clementi MRT Station, were discovered on his phone. These two videos were considered during the sentencing.
Court documents state that Wan admitted to reading news reports on voyeurism offenses before committing the acts. The news reports had piqued his interest and ultimately led him to engage in similar offenses.
The prosecution sought a jail term of five to six weeks for Wan. Conversely, Mr. Ashvin Hariharan, Wan’s defense lawyer from Kalidass Law Corporation, urged District Judge Lim Wee Ming to consider a lighter sentence of one week in jail.
Mr. Hariharan argued that Wan’s actions were impulsive and lacked premeditation, as he decided to commit the offense only upon seeing the victim at the bus stop while coincidentally heading in the same direction. He also pointed out that Wan’s offer to delete the videos demonstrated his remorse and emphasized that Wan had sought counseling, reducing the likelihood of reoffending.
In response, Deputy Public Prosecutor Tung countered that Wan’s actions were not impulsive since he had the opportunity to reconsider after capturing the first video. Tung also highlighted that Wan sought counseling only after being caught in the act.
The offense of capturing upskirt videos without consent carries a penalty of up to two years’ imprisonment, a fine, caning, or any combination thereof.