SINGAPORE: For more than three years, the discipline master of a secondary school took more than 100 upskirt videos of his female colleagues and students.
He took 12 upskirt videos of at least seven female students using modus operandi such as inviting them into the discipline room.
On one occasion, he confiscated the phone of a student who had filmed upskirt videos of a teacher and used his own phone to record the videos for himself.
The 49-year-old man, who is married with three children, pleaded guilty on Friday (Sep 2) to three charges of insulting a woman’s modesty. Another five charges will be taken into consideration for sentencing.
A gag order was imposed by the court barring the publication of his name, the victims’ names and the school name.
The court heard that the man had worked at the school since 2008 and was the discipline master since 2015. He also taught Mandarin.
Between April 2015 and July 2018, he filmed 156 upskirt videos of at least 38 female colleagues, mostly teachers.
He would invite them to his work station for data entry purposes and would place his handphone under the victim’s skirt while the victim was keying in data at his desk.
He invited female colleagues wearing skirts or dresses but not those wearing pants, and seldom invited male teachers to his work station for data entry.
The man also filmed 12 upskirt videos of at least seven female students between May 2015 and February 2018. He would take the student into the discipline room and film her while she was using the computer.
The court heard that the man would transfer the videos to an external hard disk via his office laptop. He did not share or publish the clips but “used them for his own sexual pleasure”, the prosecutor said.
On one occasion, a male student was caught and punished by the school for filming two upskirt videos of a female teacher. On the pretext of retrieving evidence, the accused confiscated the student’s phone and used his own phone to film the videos before transferring them to his collection.
His actions went on until July 2018, when a female teacher at the school lodged a police report, saying she suspected the accused had been taking upskirt videos of teachers including herself.
Police seized his hard disk and found 173 upskirt videos in the accused’s possession. He titled each clip with the victim’s names or initials or with descriptions.
Investigations also revealed that he had filmed an upskirt video of a female relative at a party his mother-in-law was hosting.
ACCUSED ABUSED POSITION: PROSECUTOR
The prosecutor asked for between 12 and 18 months’ jail, saying that the accused abused the trust of his female colleagues and his position as discipline master. The victims who were students were especially vulnerable, and the accused exploited their deference to his authority as well as the trust their parents placed in the school and its faculty, she said.
However, she accepted that the accused was suffering from major depressive disorder at the time, after losing his mother in 2015. His wife also underwent surgery for medical ailments in 2016, after which their frequency of sexual intimacy “drastically diminished”.
“However, while these factors invite some sympathy, they do not excuse the accused’s conduct,” said the prosecutor.
Defence lawyer Laurence Goh asked the court to order a mandatory treatment order suitability report. He said his client was suffering from “double depression” at the time of the offences.
A doctor with the Institute of Mental Health had said his disorder contributed to his offences, said Mr Goh.
The prosecutor objected to the defence’s “conclusion” that the accused would not be able to undergo psychiatric treatment if he is sentenced to jail, calling this “leaping to conclusions”.
The prison is “fully able to continue monitoring and treating his conditions”, and the psychiatric unit of the Changi Medical Complex is administered by IMH, she said.
The judge noted the accused’s mental conditions at the time and that there is a contributory link to his offending behaviour. She granted the defence’s request to call for a mandatory treatment order suitability report, but stressed that even if he is found suitable, the court may not necessarily impose such an order.
He will return to court for sentencing in November.
