SINGAPORE - An IT project manager who took an upskirt video of a woman on an escalator was jailed for two weeks on Tuesday (Sept 5).

American Peter Thomas Juliano, 36, pleaded guilty to a single charge of intruding into the privacy of a 25-year-old woman. He had used his phone to capture an upskirt video of her on an escalator at 313@Somerset mall on March 17.

Investigations showed that around 10am that day, the victim alighted from the train at Somerset MRT station with her boyfriend.

They walked towards the escalator leading up to 313@Somerset. The victim's boyfriend stood on the step in front of and above her on the escalator.

Juliano, who was on his way to work, stood one step directly behind the victim.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Yang Ziliang said the victim did not pay attention to anything behind her until she felt something touch her right inner thigh, slightly above her knee.

She turned around and noticed Juliano standing on the step directly behind her.

She found that weird because the rest of the escalator was empty.

She looked down and saw Juliano holding his mobile phone between her legs, below her skirt.

It had a privacy screen and she could not see what was on the phone's screen.

Suspecting him of taking an upskirt video of her, she grabbed hold of his collar and sought help from her boyfriend as well as security officers.

Juliano kept struggling and seemed like he wanted to run away, but was ultimately detained by the victim's boyfriend and the security officers.

According to the victim, Juliano kept asking her not to press charges and to settle the matter privately. The police were called.

In his mitigation plea, Juliano's lawyer Amarjit Singh Sidhu said that before his client came here to work in 2016, he had been working in the United States, largely within the banking and finance industry.

He said his client was a "man of good moral standing" and had always been law abiding.

"Peter is truly sorry for his wrongdoing; this was a one-off incident that is absolutely out of character," said Mr Singh.

He also said that Juliano's lapse in judgment was the result of the emotional instability he suffered when he returned from his break in the US. This was further compounded by the immense stress he was going through from work, the lawyer added.

Juliano could have been jailed for up to one year and/or fined for insulting the modesty of the victim.