Former uni researcher in SG jailed and fined for voyeurism offences, including an attempt on campus

SINGAPORE: A 33-year-old former researcher at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) took upskirt videos of women in public places, including attempting to record a woman on campus.

Lin Junquan was eventually caught in the act at Pioneer MRT station by a passer-by, who hauled him to station staff.

On Sept 4, the Singaporean was jailed for eight months and fined S$1,000, after he pleaded guilty to two counts of voyeurism and one other charge of possessing an obscene film.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Edwin Ho said in court that Lin was working as a researcher at NTU at the time of the offences.

One afternoon in March 2021, Lin left his office after work and walked towards a bus stop on campus.

While walking along the corridor, he saw a woman wearing a denim skirt. Feeling the urge to record an upskirt video of her, he took out his phone and followed her from behind.

He took a 13-second video, but did not manage to capture any upskirt images as the phone was not at the right angle, said DPP Ho.

Lin then boarded the bus to Pioneer MRT. After alighting, he saw another woman wearing a black skirt.

Again, he followed her from behind while she was taking an escalator to the MRT platform and took an upskirt video lasting 38 seconds.

But he was caught this time. A passer-by had noticed Lin’s acts and stopped him by holding on to his haversack. The passer-by then took him to the station staff, who lodged a police report.

Lin came clean during investigations. He admitted to police officers that he had been taking upskirt videos from as early as 2018. Usually, he would take around six videos per year, but this frequency increased.

“From August 2020 onwards, the accused would record about 10 upskirt videos per month as he noticed that there were more female subjects wearing skirts in the region of Pioneer,” said DPP Ho.

He would edit the videos and save them in a secret folder, and revisit them for his own pleasure.

In court, Lin – who attended the hearing with his father – pleaded with District Judge Wong Li Tein for leniency.

The lean, bespectacled man said: “I sincerely apologise to all the victims for my deplorable criminal acts.

“I promise that this is the first and the last time that I’ll be doing this, and I promise that this won’t happen again.”

He said he did not reoffend while waiting for investigations to be completed.

DPP Ho asked for Lin to be jailed for between nine and 13 months and fined.

Judge Wong said she took into account that Lin was a first offender who had cooperated with the police.

A NTU spokesman said Lin was dismissed in 2021, in response to The Straits Times’ queries.

He added that the university takes a zero-tolerance approach towards sexual harassment. – The Straits Times (Singapore)/Asia News Network