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SINGAPORE – An assistant station manager for SBS Transit who took videos under the skirts of girls and women in uniform for a year while on patrol duty was jailed for 16 weeks on Friday (October 9).
Asher Heng Ande, a 23-year-old Singaporean, pleaded guilty to six of the 15 charges related to insulting a woman’s modesty. The remaining nine counts and a separate charge of possession of obscene films were taken into consideration for sentencing.
The court heard that Heng had developed a fetish for secretly recording invasive videos of women in shorts or skirts. To satisfy his fetish, Heng downloaded pornography.
During his national service with the police, Heng was assigned to the Public Transportation Security Command. He recorded videos of girls and women at MRT stations while on foot patrol duties between 2016 and 2018.
His first attempt to shoot an upskirt video was on June 21, 2018 when he found himself behind a woman on a flight of stairs and felt the need to film her underwear.
A week later, Heng was hired by SBS Transit as an assistant station manager. In October 2018, Heng was assigned to the King Albert Park MRT station, where his fetish grew stronger when he observed female students from a nearby school in their uniforms.
She started shooting more videos under the skirts while patrolling the station at work. He also filmed the videos while doing his shift at the Cashew MRT station.
On most of these occasions, while on patrol in his SBS Transit uniform, Heng would pick an attractive target and follow it up an escalator or flight of stairs. Then, she would tip her phone, in recording mode, under the target’s skirt or shorts.
After committing one act at a time, Heng quickly retracts his phone and covers the camera while finishing the recording.
Victim alerted when phone hit his thigh
Heng’s acts were later discovered after he was caught red-handed while on patrol at the Cashew MRT station on May 31, 2019. At around 9pm, he saw a woman come out of the station portico and decided to record a video of her. He followed her to an escalator and tried to tuck her phone under her dress.
He had no idea that his phone hadn’t started recording. However, the phone made contact with the back of the woman’s left thigh. The woman then turned around to face him.
The woman led Heng back to the MRT station control with her supervisor, who eventually called the police. After Heng was arrested, his home was raided and his mobile devices confiscated. His staff’s locker at the Cashew MRT station was searched and police seized an unused sanitary napkin, a pair of blue female jeans, a pair of female green shorts and a green skirt.
An analysis of his mobile phone revealed 15 upskirt videos, several of which were successfully captured. The videos showed girls of various ages: from elementary school girls wearing uniforms to women in their 40s. Fourteen of these occurred at MRT stations.
The prosecution sought an 18-week jail for Heng, citing the young age of some victims and Heng’s position as SBS Transit staff as aggravating factors.
“While the personnel of public transport operators are not public personnel in the same sense as police officers, the public relies heavily on them, especially to deter and detain voyeurs up their skirts,” said the deputy prosecutor. Huo Jiongrui.
Heng, instead, betrayed that trust, the DPP said. “He lived a double life. His family and colleagues at SBS Transit did not realize his perversions. “
The defendant fears how his crime reflects on the parents
Heng’s lawyer, Kalaithasan Karuppaya, said that, in addition to feeling remorse for his actions, Heng had been “mentally punished since police investigations” and feared being prosecuted for his actions.
“The defendant felt that his crimes had thrown an undesirable light on his parents, as people may view them in an unpleasant way and even question the family’s upbringing,” Kalaithasan said, adding that his parents have supported him.
The lawyer also pointed out that Heng was young at the time of the crimes.
“It was a phase of ambiguity clouded by a diffuse discernment between good and evil. It was also a stage of life in which the accused is susceptible to letting his actions precede his thoughts, acting on the whims and fantasies of his emotions and desires ”.
