As he saw taking upskirt videos as "a challenge", a 61-year-old man would take them regularly, for up to four days a week, with four or five victims a day.

According to court documents, Poon Heng Wah would choose his victims based on whether they were able to "arouse him", and the ease of avoiding detection.

He also felt a "sense of satisfaction" from taking the videos while avoiding detection.

On Nov. 25, Poon was sentenced to 16 weeks' jail, after he was caught in the act during a month-long spree.

He had pleaded guilty to four charges of insulting a woman's modesty, with another two charges taken into consideration.

Loitering around a supermarket

Court documents state that on Aug. 9, 2017, at about 4:39pm, Poon was loitering around the NTUC supermarket at Kangkar Mall, when he came across a woman at the supermarket.

She was looking at a display of vegetables, without paying attention to what was going on behind her.

Poon decided to take an upskirt video, and after numerous attempts, managed to capture a video of her inner thighs and underwear.

The video was two minutes and 13 seconds long, and also captured the victim's face.

A few minutes later, he spotted another woman in the supermarket.

She was bending over the freezer, and after repositioning himself several times around the woman, Poon took another upskirt video, one minute and two seconds long.

Caught in the act

Later that evening at about 5:20pm, Poon saw a 60-year-old woman at the entrance of the supermarket, and followed her for about two minutes.

When she stopped to queue up at an eatery, Poon managed to capture a thirty-second video of her inner thighs and underwear.

Still unsatisfied, Poon decided to take a second video while she was still queueing for food.

However, this time he was caught by a passerby, who noticed Poon standing near the woman while he held a phone under her skirt.

When confronted by the passerby, Poon denied that he was trying to take an upskirt video of the woman, before eventually admitting to it.

He then begged the woman for forgiveness while the passerby called the police.

"Premeditation and planning"

In court, Deputy Public Prosecutor Vincent Ong asked the judge to sentence Poon to at least 16 weeks' imprisonment, reported CNA.

While Ong acknowledged that Poon was diagnosed with persistent depressive disorder, he argued that the condition was "not so linked to his offending behaviour".

"The offences were committed with premeditation and planning," said Ong.

"The accused selected his victims based on a host of criteria, including his likelihood of detection and made sure to delete the videos after he satisfied himself to avoid detection."

Ong added that Poon had committed the offences over the period of a month before he was caught, taking upskirt videos three to four days a week, with up to four to five victims a day.

Pointing out that Poon had also been convicted for similar offences in 2016, Ong said that the offender should receive a stiffer sentence than the previous, to deter him from future offences.

CNA reported that Poon had his sentence deferred to Dec. 13, 2019. For each charge of insulting a woman's modesty, Poon could have been jailed for up to a year, fined, or both.

Top image by Andrew Koay