Ex—teacher sentenced to nine months’ jail for taking upskirt videos of students

SINGAPORE: A former secondary school teacher has been sentenced to nine months’ jail for using his mobile phone to take upskirt videos of girls in school uniform.

Seow Swee Hong, 39, recorded some of the videos in the school he was teaching at.

The court approved a gag order on Friday to protect the identity of the school.

Seow faced a total of 94 charges for the offences committed in 2011. The court proceeded with those 10 charges and took the rest into consideration.

Seow pleaded guilty on September 26 to the 10 charges of insulting a woman’s modesty.

During sentencing on Friday, District Judge Hamidah Ibrahim described the aggravating factors as overwhelming and agreed with the prosecution that he took advantage of the sense of security the students must have felt in their school.

The court heard that he continued to prey on his victims and committed 47 offences while he was out on bail.

Seow’s lawyer told the court that his client could not control himself and sought help at the Institute of Mental Health after he was caught. Judge Hamidah said this had little weight and highlighted a report by Seow’s therapist stating that he re—offended because he was bored and was confident he will not be caught again.

"Obviously, the experience of being arrested and released on police bail had zero deterrent effect on you," she said.

She said the fact that he was facing 94 charges under the same section puts him "in the category of being a serial offender".

Among those who turned up in court on Friday were 12 boys. Channel NewsAsia understands that at least half of them are from the school that Seow taught at.

—CNA/ac