SINGAPORE: A 22-year-old man on Thursday (Oct 3) admitted to taking upskirt photos of women on at least 99 occasions in the span of six weeks.

Singaporean Shaun Ng Wei Xuan, who was a polytechnic student at the time of the offences, pleaded guilty to two charges of intruding on the privacy of a woman to insult her modesty.



The court heard that Ng began taking upskirt photos of women in October 2017, "as such photographs sexually aroused him".

"The accused targeted female victims who were dressed in revealing clothing such as short dresses, short skirts and tight dresses," said Deputy Public Prosecutor Winston Man.

He took the shots on escalators, in shops, and in trains and buses in Singapore.

When he saw a potential victim on an escalator, he took upskirt photos of her in the iPhone "burst mode", which allows for multiple photos to be taken with a single push of the volume button.



He used this method in shops while squatting down or standing next to victims on trains. If he was on a bus, he would hold up his phone as if texting someone, while taking the upskirt photos.

Ng's offences were discovered by a 24-year-old man when Ng was targeting a 17-year-old girl in Hougang Mall on Dec 3, 2017.

While the girl was browsing the gift card section at the Popular Bookstore there, Ng squatted and took upskirt photos of her.

The girl felt suspicious, as he had squatted next to her for "an inordinately long time", the court heard, but did not immediately realise what he was doing.

The witness, Alexander Tay, saw Ng in the act and noticed that he had angled his camera lens towards the victim's skirt.

Mr Tay asked the victim and her sister if they wanted to call the police. Ng tried to leave, but Mr Tay detained him near the entrance of the shop and asked to see his phone.

Ng relented only when Mr Tay said he would call the police. The victim, who had joined the pair, asked Ng to delete the upskirt photos he had taken of her.

She then called the police, who detained Ng and seized his phone.

Forensic analysis found 243 compromising photos of various female victims in the iPhone. Between Oct 17, 2017 and Nov 28, 2017, Ng had taken upskirt photos of unidentified women across the island on no fewer than 99 occasions, said the prosecutor.

District Judge May Mesenas called for a probation report to be prepared, and adjourned sentencing to November.

For intruding on the privacy of a woman to insult her modesty, he could be jailed for up to a year, fined, or both.