Two filmed upskirt videos to gain 'reputation points'
Former secondary school friends jailed 12 weeks for targeting teenage girls at crowded shops
They have been friends since Secondary 1 and would share things with each other.
But disturbingly, they also shared upskirt videos they took of unsuspecting females, as well as an account on a popular local forum where they would upload the videos.
Yesterday, Patrick Sim, 20, and Lee Yi Jie, 21, were each sentenced to 12 weeks' jail for taking upskirt videos.
Lee had pleaded guilty to nine upskirt charges, with 36 others taken into consideration, while Sim admitted to three charges, with five taken into consideration.
Court papers said that in 2013, the two youths hatched a plan to film upskirt videos, post them on the forum for other members to view and gain "reputation points".
Sim and Lee would capture shots of their victims' faces, inner thighs and underwear. Their preferred targets were teenage girls browsing in crowded shops as the duo could pretend to reach for items on the lower shelves while recording the videos.
After filming their victims, they transferred the videos on their computers and uploaded them on the forum, as well as other cloud-based sharing services such as Dropbox and Mega.
CAUGHT
But their reign of mischief ended after they were caught by two 17-year-old girls, both of whom had been filmed, at a shopping mall in the north-east of Singapore on Sept 20, 2013.
The girls left the store immediately and later called their school's operation manager who rushed over to the mall. He then made a police report and the youths were later arrested.
The police also found 137 obscene films on Sim's computer and mobile phone.
Yesterday, District Judge Mathew Joseph said during sentencing that upskirt offences were becoming more prevalent - increasing from 387 in 2009 to almost 600 in 2013.
The judge said that the youths were recommended for probation but he did not accept that their offences were committed through youthful folly and curiosity.
"This case is also a stark reminder of how modern technology - smartphones and the Internet - can be abused in devious and abhorrent ways," he said.
Criminal lawyer Rajan Supramaniam said the uploading of such videos may count as an aggravating factor - compared to just keeping them for personal viewing.
Lawyer Luke Lee said that platforms such as the forum that facilitate the distribution of such videos may also be flouting the Films Act.
Other upskirt cases
JUNE 2015
A serial upskirt offender was jailed for 36 weeks after police found more than 1,888 videos on his mobile phone and computer. His offences came to light in December 2012 when he was caught by security staff at Bugis Junction while trying to take upskirt videos of a woman.
MARCH 2014
A former test engineer, who took more than 200 upskirt videos in 10 months, was jailed for nine months. He was caught filming a girl with his mobile phone while on an escalator, with his phone secured to his shoe.
FEBRUARY 2014
A former sales executive was jailed eight weeks for taking upskirt videos of women at raffles place mrt station. He had hidden his mobile phone behind a newspaper and was secretly filming a woman, but her husband noticed and called the cops.
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