A teacher in Singapore has been sentenced to 10 months and two weeks in jail after being found guilty of capturing upskirt videos. The incidents took place between 2015 and 2018 and involved at least 47 victims, including both colleagues and students.
The individual, a 50-year-old father of three who was formerly a discipline master, cannot be named due to a gag order protecting the victims’ identities.
During the court proceedings on Tuesday, District Judge Brenda Tan took note of a report by Dr. Stephen Phang from the Institute of Mental Health, which indicated that the teacher was suffering from major depressive disorder at the time of the offences.
Although the teacher was deemed suitable for a mandatory treatment order, Dr. Phang concluded that he still had the capacity to choose not to commit the acts. Consequently, Judge Tan determined that the teacher’s mental condition carried little weight in terms of mitigation and sentenced him to a period of imprisonment.
Following the sentencing, the teacher’s defense lawyer, Laurence Goh, announced the intention to appeal the verdict. Bail was set at $15,000.
Under the law, each count of insulting a woman’s modesty can lead to a maximum sentence of one year in jail and a fine.
The case came to light when one of the victims, a female teacher, became suspicious and reported her concerns to the police on July 14, 2018. The Ministry of Education confirmed that the teacher had been suspended from service since that date and is no longer employed at any school.
During the investigation, it was discovered that the teacher had filmed multiple upskirt videos of his colleagues, targeting at least 38 individuals between April 2015 and July 2018. He would discreetly place his mobile phone beneath a colleague’s skirt while they were at his workstation for data entry tasks, recording videos without their knowledge or consent.
Additionally, the teacher filmed multiple upskirt videos of several students using the same method. The prosecutor emphasized that at least seven of the victims were underage students who were particularly vulnerable due to their young age and the trust placed in the school and its staff.
In a separate incident, the teacher used his mobile phone to record two upskirt videos of a male student who had been caught for the same offense. He claimed that it was done to gather evidence but transferred the videos to a personal hard disk for his own collection.
He also committed similar offences in other locations, including his mother-in-law’s home, where he targeted a female relative back in February 2017 as well.