Shaun Ho Yan Liang, a 26-year-old psychology undergraduate from Nanyang Technological University, took upskirt videos and filmed from under women’s tops for more than four months, pleaded guilty on September 16 to 3 charges of insulting a woman’s modesty and possessing 106 obscene films downloaded from p*rn websites.
He had amassed a collection of 469 videos from 335 victims, many of which are still unidentified to this day, before he got caught.
Another charge under the Films Act is taken into consideration before his sentencing on September 23.
The court heard that Shaun was arrested on July 22, 2018 at Eastpoint shopping mall, where he followed a woman who was with her boyfriend around NTUC, where she noticed him acting suspiciously around her.
Ho used a mobile app to record her (by standing or squatting behind her and aiming his phone from under her shorts or top) that made the phone reflect a blank screen instead of the video recording.
The victim’s boyfriend noticed this and immediated detained him, reporting the incident to the security guard, whe subsequently informed the police.
Ho’s phone was seized by the police, who found 459 videos of 334 unknown female victims.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Seah Teh said that Ho took these videos almost every day, watching them repeatedly when he’s alone to “derive pleasure”.
The prosecution asked for 10 months and 3 weeks jail for Ho, calling him a prolific serial upskirt offender.
Ho’s lawyer, Mr Kalaithasan Karuppaya, argues that his client was a “highly motivated student with a bright future who has done well”, and that “that shows he has the potential to reform and contribute to society”.
DPP Teh retorted by highlighting a recent High Court judgement from Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, ruling that a young offender’s academic excellence should be irrelevant unless and link can be drawn between it and his rehabilitative capacity, relating to the case of a convicted molester from the National University of Singapore (NUS), Terence Siow Kai Yuan.
Ho is faing jail of up to 1 year, fined or both, for insulting a women’s modesty.
He is also facing a jail term of up to 6 months, fined up to $20,000 or both, for possessing obscene films.