Man gets jail for taking 179 upskirt videos over three years, molesting woman at MRT station

SINGAPORE: While investigating a man for molestation, police officers found a mobile phone containing 179 upskirt videos taken across three years.

The man had filmed unknown women on separate occasions between January 2016 and February 2019 at various locations including escalators, on public walkways or streets, or inside shopping centres.

Lim Yi Fei, a Singaporean, was sentenced to nine months and 31 weeks’ jail on Friday (Aug 7) for various offences committed between 2016 and 2025, including outrage of modesty and theft in dwelling. When a prison sentence is imposed that combines months with four weeks or more, CNA reports the sentences as spelt out by the court as months vary in length.

The 25-year-old man pleaded guilty to five charges, including one count of intruding upon the privacy of a woman with intent to insult her modesty and one count of using criminal force to a person with intent to outrage modesty. Another 11 charges were taken into consideration.

In all 179 videos, Lim would approach them and record their buttocks while behind them. The court heard that he chose the women on random and recorded the videos while travelling from home to work and vice versa.

He was arrested on Sep 27, 2019.

MRT STATIONS

In September 2019, about a week before he was arrested for the upskirt videos, Lim molested a woman at Serangoon MRT station. The victim, referred to as V2 in court documents as her identity is protected by a gag order, was heading towards an escalator to exit the platform after arriving at the station.

Lim saw her and followed behind. While behind her, he groped her buttocks before walking away quickly and taking another escalator. V2 told her friend what happened and informed the station security staff. They called the police, but Lim had already left the station by then.

In 2024, Lim recorded an upskirt video of another woman while taking the escalator at Buangkok MRT station. While doing so, his handphone touched the victim’s, referred to as V3, buttocks. She turned around to confront him, while two passers-by stepped in to help detain Lim at the station.

One of the passers-by alerted the MRT station staff, who called the police for help. Lim was arrested and remanded in custody. He was later charged and released on bail.

In another incident on 2025, Lim recorded a continuous upskirt video of a woman at Dhoby Ghaut MRT station while on the escalator. A man travelling on the same escalator saw what Lim was doing and confronted him. The man grabbed Lim’s arm to prevent him from escaping.

Lim resisted and told the man to let him go but the man refused and held on. This led to a struggle between the two, and the man pushed Lim to the floor and held him down. He also asked the victim to call the MRT staff for assistance.

Lim was arrested and his bail was eventually revoked.

In a separate case in 2018, Lim stole several items from a locker at the Water Sports Centre at Singapore Sports Hub. Lim, who was there for dragon boat training, opened the locker while looking for an empty one for himself.

He spotted a black Prada wallet, which was worth S$700, and decided to take it for himself. He thought it looked nice and wanted to sell it, the court heard. He also stole an NRIC belonging to the victim in this case, some credit cards and a few clothing items.

“SERIAL, HABITUAL OFFENDER”

Deputy Public Prosecutor Benjamin Low sought at least 15 to 16 months’ and six to nine weeks’ jail for Lim.

He said in his sentencing submissions that a stiff and deterrent sentence was necessary to impress upon Lim that his “blatant and egregious invasion of his victims’ privacy is deserving of strong societal opprobrium and condemnation”.

“Further, the accused has shown himself to be a serial, habitual offender with his numerous offences committed from as early as 2016 up until 2025,” said Mr Low.

Mr Jonathan Wong from Tembusu Law firm, who was representing Lim, said in mitigation that it would appear that there is a continuing case of conduct, but his client’s actions were not done out of malice or due to predatory behaviour.

He brought up Lim’s adjustment disorder and childhood trauma, not as an excuse of what has been done, he said, but to explain “why a person of this profile would do something so uncharacteristic”. He said evidence has shown that Lim was intelligent and capable.

In sentencing, District Judge Arvindren R agreed that Lim should not be prejudiced but noted that he had molested various victims and repeatedly offended while on bail, adding that the number of upskirt videos he took was also “significant”.

For intruding upon the privacy of a woman with intent to insult her modesty, he could be jailed up to a year, fined or both.

For assault or using criminal force to outrage a person’s modesty, he could be jailed up to two years, caned, fined, or given any combination of these punishments.

Read Full Article At Source