Malaysian chef jailed 12 months for taking upskirt videos of women
Malaysian Thian Kit Siong, 33, was sentenced to 12 months' jail for insulting the modesty of a woman.ST PHOTO: WONG KWAI CHOW
SINGAPORE: Over three months, a chef took upskirt videos of unsuspecting women at a shopping centre, where he worked, and at City Hall MRT station.
Malaysian Thian Kit Siong would feel a very strong sexual urge whenever he saw females in skirts and would film them.
He usually took the videos when he was on his toilet break or when his supervisor at Poulet restaurant gave him a break at work.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Jasmine Chin-Sabado said investigation showed that the 33-year-old would head to the supermarket at basement one of the shopping centre and look for young women in skirts.
When he identified the victims, he would look around to ensure that no one was watching him before he planned how to film them.
He would switch his phone to video mode and would either stand beside or behind his victim.
He would turn his mobile phone upside down such that the camera lens was facing upwards; place it between their legs and film them.
While doing this, he would pretend to be browsing the goods on display so that he could carry out the filming discreetly and avoid detection.
He filmed the victims even when they were with other people.
On occasions, the victims would be with their partners but Thian was still able to take videos of them without getting caught.
His luck ran out on June 14, 2016 when a couple confronted him after he had taken an upskirt video of a 29-year-old woman at the supermarket.
The victim was at the bread section when she felt something touched her leg. She turned around and saw Thian squatting and selecting two boxes of cereal from the display rack. He was holding a phone in his right hand.
She walked away and decided to observe him.
She saw him following other females in the supermarket. She immediately told her 34-year-old husband and the couple saw him squatting behind three other women.
Thian then went to the toilet.
When he came out of the toilet hurriedly, the complainant (woman's husband) confronted him, calling him a "pervert". Thian ignored him and proceeded to the escalator.
The complainant chased after him and said: "You took upskirt right?'' But he kept quiet and continued walking up.
Meanwhile, an off-duty police officer saw the complainant confronting Thian. He identified himself and asked for Thian's mobile phone. Multiple upskirt videos were found and Thian was arrested.
A total of 203 video clips was found.
DPP Chin-Sabado said there was an occasion when Thian followed a victim for almost an hour and took eight videos of the victim which lasted seven minutes and 45 seconds.
On Thursday (May 4), Thian admitted to 37 charges of insulting the modesty of a woman and was jailed for 12 months, one of the longest sentences meted out to such offenders.
Ninety-nine other charges were considered during his sentencing.
The maximum punishment for insulting modesty is one year's jail and a fine on each charge. - The Straits Times/Asia News NetworkRead more at http://www.thestar.com.my/news/regional/2017/05/04/malaysian-chef-jailed-12-months-for-taking-upskirt-videos-of-women/#R2fjc6EdRKvZ4Kaf.99
