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SINGAPORE: A former senior professor at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) was jailed for eight months on Monday (December 7) for taking videos under the skirts of hundreds of women with a modified laptop bag.
Chia Teck Huat, 41, placed mini cameras inside her purse and scoured shopping malls looking for middle-aged office workers in short skirts, according to court documents.
He pleaded guilty in October to three counts of insulting a woman’s modesty, and a fourth count was considered.
Chia, who was working as a part-time deliveryman after losing her job with ITE, walked through malls such as Plaza Singapura, ION Orchard, Tampines Mall, and Changi City Point to film women between July 2017 and October 2017.
He was captured when a man caught him recording videos under the skirts at the Daiso establishment in Plaza Singapura on October 23, 2017. A total of 335 unidentified women were filmed in 335 video clips recovered from their devices.
District Judge Adam Nakhoda highlighted the large number of victims, as well as the planning and premeditation Chia put in to commit the crimes, such as tagging and organizing the videos she had taken.
While there was no undue delay between Chia’s arrest and the indictment, as presented by the defense, the prosecution admitted that there was a delay of two years and eight months.
A psychiatrist found that Chia suffered from a voyeuristic disorder and an adjustment disorder, but there was no diagnosis of impulse control disorder.
The judge noted that Chia attended 34 counseling sessions and has not committed a crime since her arrest.
The defense previously told the court that Chia was having difficulties in her marriage and that her mother suffered from late-stage cancer, and Chia was experiencing “tremendous stress and anxiety.”
He began experimenting with recording videos under skirts, saying they helped relieve his stress, and his urges “were triggered when he saw girls in short skirts.”
“The defendant was really relieved to have been caught by the police, as he knew that his behavior was obsessive and compulsive and that he could not control himself,” Chia’s lawyers said, adding that their client was previously a respected ITE speaker. and a committed family man.
ITE said in October that Chia was fired in March 2018 and that the institution would not tolerate any form of sexual misconduct among its staff.
For each count of insulting a woman’s modesty, he could have been jailed for up to a year, fined, or both.
