SINGAPORE: While working as a analysis workers member on the Nanyang Technological University (NTU), a Chinese national was caught taking an upskirt picture of a girl at a procuring centre in Orchard Road.
During a raid of his residence final yr, police discovered comparable photos of about 400 women in numerous places, together with at NTU, numerous procuring malls and MRT stations.
Guo Zhihong was sentenced to 10 months and 5 weeks’ jail in courtroom on Monday (March 21) after he pleaded responsible to 2 voyeurism costs and one cost of insulting the modesty of a girl.
District Judge Kok Shu En agreed with the prosecution’s labelling of Guo as a “prolific serial upskirter” given the quantity of women he had taken photos of.
According to courtroom paperwork, Guo was working at NTU’s School of Civil and Environmental Engineering on a short-term employment move on the time of the offences.
An NTU spokesman instructed The Straits Times that Guo’s employment with the university was terminated on April 22 final yr.
“NTU has a zero-tolerance stance in the direction of all types of harassment, together with voyeurism and sexual misconduct,” the spokesman added.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Lee Wen Kym instructed the courtroom on Monday that at about 6pm on April 11 final yr, Guo went to Orchard MRT station with plans to have dinner alone and file upskirt pictures.
At about 8.15pm, a person who was strolling from Ion Orchard in the direction of Orchard MRT station together with his girlfriend, noticed Guo strolling carefully behind two different women while holding his cellphone beneath one of the women’s shorts.
The man – Seah Choon Kong – and his girlfriend continued observing Guo as they walked in the direction of Wheelock Place.
While Guo and the 2 women had been on an escalator, Seah noticed him take upskirt pictures of one of the women. When they reached the basement stage, Seah requested the 2 women if Guo was their pal.
DPP Lee stated: “After affirmation that (Guo) was not their pal, the witness instructed (them) that (Guo) had been following them for a while and had behaved suspiciously, by standing near them and filming them from a low angle.”
Seah then confronted Guo and requested to see the picture gallery on his cellphone.
Guo refused and denied taking any upskirt photos. He was additionally seen fiddling together with his cellphone, seemingly attempting to reset it however Seah stopped him from doing so.
When Guo ultimately unlocked his cellphone, he confirmed Seah and the 2 women a random album that had no photos. He additionally dimmed his display screen so the others couldn’t view it clearly.
He gave them many excuses on why they may not test his cellphone.
When he tried to depart, Seah and two different male passers-by detained him, while Seah’s girlfriend notified the safety officers of Wheelock Place.
They questioned Guo, who once more denied taking upskirt photos, and refused to indicate them his picture gallery.
The police had been known as and law enforcement officials discovered a number of photos of women’s buttocks in his cellphone.
Guo admitted he had recorded upskirt pictures of women with out their consent in the previous few weeks.
On April 12 final yr, police raided Guo’s residence and seized two different cell phones, a laptop computer, two iPads and a tough disk drive.
Upon investigation, it was discovered that Guo had recorded upskirt pictures from 2015 till his arrest in 2021.
DPP Lee stated Guo photographed full-body again views and upskirt views of women in skirts, shorts or yoga pants whom he discovered engaging.
In her sentencing submissions, the DPP added: “The offences are intentionally dedicated with pre-meditation because the accused has admitted to planning outings with the aim of recording upskirt pictures of women.
“This deliberate, persistent course of offending conduct underscores the necessity for particular deterrence.”
Speaking through a translator, Guo stated in mitigation he had taken the photos with a cellphone and didn’t purchase tools akin to a pinhole digicam.
He added: “I took nonetheless pictures as a substitute of movies and admit that I had not (considered) the victims…
“I’ve been abroad for greater than three years with out going residence… I can’t reoffend.”
For every voyeurism cost, Guo might have been jailed for as much as two years and fined.
For the depend of insulting a girl’s modesty, he might have been jailed for as much as a yr and fined. – The Straits Times (Singapore)/Asia News Network
