SINGAPORE: A man with a fetish for women's shoes was fined S$5,000 on Thursday (Oct 24) after he was caught on video pleasuring himself with footwear taken from HDB flats.



Low Yan Long, 34, pleaded guilty to two counts of obscene acts in public places, with another two charges taken into consideration.





The court heard that Low began looking for women's shoes at HDB blocks because he wanted to relieve stress related to work and family matters.

He was a part-time employee at a casket company and a fast food restaurant at the time of the offences.

Looking at and smelling women's shoes "sexually aroused" him, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Joshua Foo, as "he would imagine beautiful women wearing the shoes".

“When he found such shoes, he would masturbate and urinate in the shoes as a way to relieve stress.”





The first incident occurred on Jan 22 this year at an HDB block in Toa Payoh.



Low had been feeling stressed out after work and decided to masturbate with a woman's shoe to relieve stress, the court heard.

He searched the block for a suitable pair before finding one placed outside a flat. He then took the shoes with him to a nearby staircase landing.



There, he used the shoe to masturbate and ejaculated into it. After the act, he left the shoes at the staircase and walked away.

A neighbour who saw the woman’s shoes told the shoe owner’s husband, who then discovered that the shoes were soiled.



The husband reviewed closed-circuit television footage from a camera installed outside his unit, which captured Low in the act.



Feeling annoyed, he lodged a police report. The shoes were thrown away.

While on bail for this offence, Low repeated the act, this time on Jul 28, with a pair of red shoes he found at an HDB block in Ang Mo Kio.



This time, he sniffed the shoes and urinated into one after rubbing himself on it.



A neighbour alerted the owner of the HDB flat and CCTV footage again captured Low in the act.

A police report was made and Low was identified as a suspect.

Low was arrested on Jul 31 after attending a court hearing for the first incident.



He was remanded in the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) for a forensic psychiatric assessment, and the doctor certified that he was of sound mind and able to make his defence.



He added in his report that Low “does not have a mental illness of a depressive or psychotic nature presently” and that “(his) offences were the result of his dysfunctional and sexually deviant way of dealing with his stress”.



The judge allowed Low to pay his fine in instalments by April next year.



The penalties for performing an obscene act in public to the annoyance of others are a maximum three months’ jail, a fine, or both.