Lawyer under work, relationship stress took upskirt videos using modified bag, gets jail
He bought a new bag from a wine store for each offence, disposing of the modified bag after filming upskirt videos at MRT stations.
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SINGAPORE: A former lawyer who used a specially modified bag to secretly film upskirt videos of women with his mobile phone was sentenced to four weeks' jail last Thursday (Jul 23).
Samuel Ye Yixu, 29, pleaded guilty to a charge of voyeurism after police officers caught him while on patrol at a train station.
His lawyers said that he committed the offences while suffering from high levels of work-related stress, a difficult relationship with his father and mental health issues, and he has since left the legal profession.
THE CASE
In their mitigation plea, Mr Sunil Sudheesan and Ms Joyce Khoo said that Ye first committed voyeurism in Japan in December 2022, when he was in a low mood after his girlfriend broke up with him.
He had been diagnosed with mixed anxiety and depressive disorder in late 2018 and underwent problem-solving therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy, the defence lawyers added.
By the beginning of 2023, Ye had excessive anxiety associated with a depressed mood and other symptoms.
He began working as a lawyer in August 2023.
He said that work left him with little time for leisure and self-care, and that he occasionally worked until 5am.
The defence said that this "significantly impacted his ability to manage his stress, contributing to chronically high levels of stress".
"Our client was also under tremendous stress at home given the bad relationship with his father," the lawyers said.
As a result, Ye engaged in sexual behaviour including voyeurism as his main way of managing stress, anxiety and dysphoria, they added.
By mid-2023, Ye began committing voyeurism in Singapore during his commute to and from work, the lawyers said.
In April 2024, he put his phone in video-recording mode and placed it in a black bag he bought from a wine store.
He had modified the bag so that it had a hole in its base and he could conceal his phone in filming mode. He placed the phone with its camera facing upwards and looked for female victims in skirts.
After choosing a victim with a short skirt, Ye would trail her while carrying the modified bag. On the escalator, he would stand behind her and angle the bag so that the phone camera could film beneath her skirt.
When he reached the top floor, he would stop the recording, watch the clip and delete it.
From April 2024 to early May 2024, he took upskirt videos in this manner at least once a week at an MRT station.
He disposed of the modified bag he used each time and bought a new one for each occasion.
Ye was arrested on Jun 14, 2024 at a train station after the police received an anonymous tip that he had taken upskirt videos in April 2024.
SENTENCING ARGUMENTS
The prosecution sought two to three months' jail, saying that the voyeuristic acts had been committed on escalators in MRT stations.
Citing the police's Annual Crime Brief 2025 published in February this year, Deputy Public Prosecutor Clara Low said that the public transport system is one of the top three locations for voyeurism cases, accounting for nearly 10 per cent of the total number of such reported cases in 2025.
Ms Low said that Ye was goal-oriented, methodical and systematic – buying wine to obtain the bag that he would use to hide his phone.
Ye also had a habit of taking upskirt videos every week for one month.
Calling the sentence sought by the prosecution "harsh", his lawyers sought a short detention order with a community service order, or two weeks' jail in the alternative.
They said that Ye was very sorry for what he did, but was suffering from mixed depressive and anxiety disorder, as well as voyeuristic disorder, at the time. This affected his ability to exercise self-control.
They also said that Ye voluntarily sought treatment in August 2023 and attended regular psychotherapy sessions, feeling disgusted and ashamed of himself after engaging in voyeuristic behaviour.
However, a break-up with his girlfriend in April 2024 precipitated a "spree of voyeuristic behaviour", they added.
He attended his first appointment with the National Addictions Management Service at the Institute of Mental Health in December 2025 and was assessed as presenting with paraphilic disorder and excessive pornography consumption.
The defence said that Ye was not engaging in voyeuristic behaviour when he was arrested, but immediately admitted that his phone contained such material.
He has not relapsed since August 2024, the defence added.
For voyeurism, he could have been jailed for up to two years, fined, caned, or been given any combination of these penalties.
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