SINGAPORE: A lecturer was working at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) College East in Simei when he took upskirt videos and photographs of multiple students.
Darren Quek Sze-Wen, 48, who had targeted at least five victims, admitted to committing the offences over a period of four to five months.
After his arrest, his mobile phone was found to contain at least 133 upskirt photos and videos.
Quek, who is no longer working at the ITE, was on Tuesday sentenced to four months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to two counts of insulting a woman’s modesty and one count of attempting to commit the offence.
Three other charges were considered during sentencing.
Quek was on campus on Oct 25, 2019, when he spotted a student wearing a tight skirt.
He walked towards her, turned on the camera function of his mobile phone, and tried to take upskirt photos and videos of her.
But the student caught him doing so. She immediately texted her sister, who alerted the police.
Investigations revealed that to commit his offences, Quek would look out for female students who were either wearing short skirts or were “sitting improperly”.
After that, he would take out his mobile phone and walk towards them to capture upskirt videos and pictures.
By using this method, he managed to take an upskirt picture and a video recording of an unknown woman’s inner thighs on campus on June 5, 2019.
He went on to commit a similar offence, also on campus, the following month.
On Tuesday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Phoebe Tan asked for Quek to be given between four and six months’ jail, stressing that he had abused his trust and authority as a lecturer.
For each count of insulting a woman’s modesty, an offender can be jailed for up to a year and fined. – The Straits Times (Singapore)/Asia News Network