Woman accuses 2 men of snapping her photos at a bar in S'pore, they laugh it off

Can't believe we have to say this, but it's not okay to be a creep.

Jeanette Tan | July 15, 2017, 06:22 PM

A woman has alleged in a Facebook post that she was harassed by two uncles who were taking photos of her at a bar she happened to be patronising.

When she stepped out for a smoke, she claims they followed her and continued taking her photos.

To her shock, she writes, when she and her friends confronted the two men, she said they were sending more than 10 pictures of her — all taken without her consent — to other people on WhatsApp.

"They said they 'only wanted to take pictures because they thought I was pretty'...

They kept insisting that it wasn't a big deal, and told us not to make a fuss. The uncle in blue could even laugh as he tried to explain himself, and he started becoming aggressive when we mentioned the police. He was on the verge of punching one of my girl friends so we did end up calling the police."

There are many things wrong with what the two uncles allegedly said to the girl, but that aside, it gets worse — the woman says the police were "not of much help" to her either.

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This was what her post said:

"These two men are the perfect representation of the scum of our society :') how monotonous must your life be to think, "hey! let's do something fun today. let's head to a bar and take pictures of young girls and circulate it through whatsapp to our other sleazy friends." I'm guessing it must be pretty f**king (editor's note: we censored this) boring.

They were taking pictures of me without my consent while I was seated at the bar, and even followed me out when i left for a smoke. when we confronted them, we saw at least 10 photos of me, that they were sending to other people through whatsapp. they said they 'only wanted to take pictures because they thought I was pretty'. I never knew my face was on my butt!!! But hey, we learn something new everyday.

They kept insisting that it wasn't a big deal, and told us not to make a fuss. The uncle in blue could even laugh as he tried to explain himself, and he started becoming aggressive when we mentioned the police. He was on the verge of punching one of my girl friends so we did end up calling the police. Unfortunately they weren't of much help, so I'm posting their picture here so other people won't fall prey to their revolting habit of taking pictures of young girls :')

If you see them, please give them a good kick in the balls for me. Cheers"

Now, unless the two uncles come forward, we can't verify that they did indeed do and say what the woman claims they have.

Unfortunately, what the woman pointed out is true — if you're in a public place (for instance outside a bar, or even at a bar), you can't stop anyone from taking photos of you, until it breaches certain levels of harassment.

Part of Singapore's statutes concerning harassment contain the following:

Screenshot from Singapore Statutes website

In essence, it appears that the harassment has to be insulting, and also cause distress, for it to be a criminal offence.

With regard to taking photographs of a person without their consent, it's also not a crime and there are no laws protecting individuals from this.

But whether or not it's against the law, please, people — don't be creeps.

It's disgusting. What would your fiancées, sisters, wives, children think?

(Editor's note: We've updated this story to remove identifying information of the parties involved as this has become a police case.)

Related article:

S’pore is safe but creeping on girls & women in public is not okay, okay?

 

Top photo via Facebook