Man jailed 24 weeks for taking upskirt videos and clips of women relieving themselves in toilets

Elena Chong
The Straits Times
Saturday, Aug 20, 2016

A senior financial consultant who took multiple upskirt videos and clips of women relieving themselves in the toilet was jailed for 24 weeks yesterday.

Jason Tan Chong Ming, 27, faced 33 charges of insulting the modesty of women between last September and March this year. He admitted to 12 counts of intruding into the privacy of the women by using his mobile phone to take a video of them in various places, including the shower in an incident involving a friend's sister.

He would sometimes visit his friend's home and took the opportunity on three occasions in February and March this year to take a video of the 28-year-old woman in the shower through an open window.

Altogether, he recorded 17 upskirt videos and 13 of women relieving themselves.

The court has asked that his company not be named so that the victims would not be identified.

On March 11 - the day he was found out - Tan had followed a 24-year-old colleague into the unisex toilet at his office and used his iPhone to record a video of her through a gap.

She looked up and saw the cellphone with the camera lens pointing at her. She quickly put on her underwear and left the cubicle, intending to see who else was in the toilet. She saw Tan, who appeared shocked. He walked out of the toilet without saying anything.

He later viewed the video he had taken and realised that the victim had been looking in the direction of the phone camera. Suspecting that he had been discovered, he deleted the video.

The victim informed her boss of the incident. When Tan's phone was checked, several other videos of women relieving themselves were found. The case was referred to the police.

Earlier that day, Tan had taken an upskirt video of a 24-year-old financial consultant at another office without her knowledge. He had also recorded a similar video of her on an escalator on March 1.

The court heard that on another occasion, Tan was attending an event at a hotel on Jan 29 when he placed his mobile phone on video recording mode in the toilet of a room booked for some of the participants.

The phone captured a 23-year-old financial consultant relieving herself while seated on the toilet bowl.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Gabriel Choong told District Judge Adam Nakhoda that the intrusion of privacy, especially the ones in the shower, was very grave. "They were committed in the sanctity of the victim's own home,'' he said.

Tan's lawyer Lim Fung Peen said his client, who has resigned, had apologised to his former colleagues.

Tan could have been jailed for up to one year and/or fined on each charge of insulting modesty.