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SINGAPORE – To take pictures under the office ladies’ skirts, a man bought mini cameras that he modified to hide them inside a laptop bag.
Chia Teck Huat, a former professor at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE), then wandered through shopping malls on the lookout for office ladies in short skirts that she could surreptitiously film.
Chia, 41, took the illicit videos in this way from July to October 2017. She broke two cameras while experimenting with the recording process. A total of 314 videos retrieved from Chia’s devices were dated during this period, while another 21 videos were undated.
Chia, who now works as a part-time deliveryman, has pleaded guilty to three of the four charges combined of insulting a woman’s modesty, with the last charge up for sentencing.
Her attorney, Joshua Tong, said to mitigate that his client had started experimenting with the idea of taking videos under her skirts as a point of release due to the stress of her marriage and family. Chia was also struggling to have a child with his wife, but was not successful until last year.
To take the videos, Chia searched for and bought mini cameras online. Then he disassembled the cameras and fixed the lens on the side of a laptop bag, facing upward. The camera was connected to a portable charger kept in a laptop bag and any recorded footage would be saved to an SD card.
It closed the zipper of the laptop bag but left an opening where the camera peeked out. She tried various positions and kept spare cameras in her bag.
“The defendant took his first upskirt video in mid-2017 and his impulses were triggered when he saw girls in short skirts. After the first incident, she acted more frequently and took videos under her skirts in shopping malls two to three times a week, ”Tong said.
He kept the bag in the car and fished for it to use while wandering through shopping malls, such as Plaza Singapura, ION Orchard and Changi City Point, looking for middle-aged women in short skirts, the prosecution said.
Chia was finally captured on October 23, 2017, during one of those loitering at the Daiso establishment in Plaza Singapura. One person called the police to say that he had taken notice of Chia and was following him. Police officers were dispatched to the scene and Chia was arrested. They removed a modified 2 cm by 2 cm camera.
According to Tong, his client was relieved to be caught because he knew his behavior bordered on the obsessive and compulsive, and he was unable to control himself. He was diagnosed with a voyeuristic disorder.
Since her arrest, Chia has gone through numerous counseling sessions and is now motivated to stay clean. Psychiatrists had a good prognosis for Chia, who they said was committed to therapy. He also had a good work record, a supportive family, and a network of churches.
Tong said: “Prior to his criminal conduct in 2017, the defendant was a law-abiding citizen, a highly respected lecturer at ITE and a committed family man.”
In seeking a 24-week jail term for Chia, Tong also argued that there had been a delay in processing. Although Chia was investigated for the first time by the authorities in October 2017, he had to suffer the stress and uncertainty of the case that hung over him for more than two years.
“In the intervening period, the defendant has now become the father of a young son, which makes the current period of incarceration all the more painful and concerning, especially in this COVID-19 climate,” Tong said.
Assistant District Attorney Kathy Chu advocated a 40-week jail term, citing the high death toll, 335, and a high degree of premeditation shown in the way the videos were filmed.
Chia will be sentenced on December 7.
For insulting a woman’s modesty, Chia faces a year in jail, a fine, or both.
In response to media inquiries, an ITE spokesperson said: “He (Chia) was fired from service in March 2018. ITE has zero tolerance for any form of sexual misconduct among its staff.”
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