Man took ‘downblouse’, upskirt films and videos for 6 years
SINGAPORE — A woman who noticed a man taking photos of her from the reflection in an MRT train door kept an eye on him as he followed her up a lift and escalator.
The woman, 25, then told an SMRT duty manager that Joseph Lee Kwong Meng, 42, was following her and had taken photos of her. The duty manager agreed to keep an eye on Lee and caught him after Lee took an upskirt video of the woman.
Investigations then revealed that Lee, a Singaporean project engineer, had been taking illicit photos or videos since 2013.
He claimed that he had stopped his offences from late 2017 or early 2018, as he read news reports of others getting arrested for the same offence and was afraid of getting caught. However, he was unable to restrain himself and resumed his offences in August 2018.
He took upskirt and downblouse photographs or videos of 133 unidentified victims on 138 occasions from 2013 to 2019. Lee would typically film victims on upriding escalators at MRTs or approach women browsing items in shops at shopping malls.
After recording these photographs and videos, Lee would save copies of them onto his laptop.
Caught at Dhoby Ghaut MRT
On 4 July 2019, Lee was taking the circle line from Dhoby Ghaut MRT when he noticed the woman. He recorded her face with his phone as he found her attractive. The woman noticed her image on Lee’s phone from the reflection on the train door.
She alighted at Bras Basah MRT with Lee following. When the woman entered a lift, Lee followed suit and stared at her. The woman then exited the gantry, but instead of heading out, she told an SMRT duty manager that Lee was following her and taking photos of her.
The manager acknowledged this and said he would observe Lee. Lee then followed a few steps behind the woman and took an upskirt video of her.
The manager later detained Lee at the exit and asked for his phone, where he discovered photos of the woman.
After Lee was arrested by the police, police seized his electronic devices, including two laptops and another mobile phone.
Lee’s lawyer Deepansh Sharma said that due to his pending court case, Lee had been unable to hold a steady job and provide for his family. He had burnt nearly the entirety of his savings while waiting for his case to conclude, said the lawyer.
Lee also voluntarily sought counselling from We Care community services to deal with his issues, his lawyer added.
However, Deputy Public Prosecutor Kathy Chu replied that the delay was due to the number of videos found.
Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore
