SINGAPORE – A serial sexual offender was 14 years old when he first molested a girl in 2017. He went on to commit more sexual crimes involving other female victims before he was charged in court in January 2022.

While out on bail, he recorded upskirt videos of women on escalators at MRT stations on five occasions between Nov 7, 2022 and Jan 11, 2023.

The offender, who is now 20, pleaded guilty on Monday to multiple offences, including molestation and sexually penetrating a minor. He cannot be named because of a gag order to protect the victims’ identities.

He started committing sexual offences in August 2017 at the age of 14, when he molested a female schoolmate who was around 14 or 15 years old at the time.

In February 2019, he committed offences, including sexual penetration, against a 12-year-old Secondary 1 schoolmate, whom he had invited to his home for a water fight.

Around two months later, he took a female part-time lifeguard’s underwear from her bag during an event at a swimming complex where he was a volunteer. She later made a police report.

The offender struck again in May 2019 when he went to a park with a fourth victim, a 13-year-old schoolmate, and played a game of truth or dare with her.

He dared her to take off her shirt a few times, but she refused to do so.

He then dared her to take off her skirt. She complied as she was wearing a pair of shorts underneath.

The offender later slipped a hand into her shorts and sexually penetrated her.

In October 2019, he used his mobile phone in an attempt to view a 22-year-old woman changing in a toilet at a Shenton Way condominium, where he was attending a gathering.

When the woman spotted the device, she immediately wrapped herself in a towel. She saw the youth running away towards some barbecue pits.

Court documents did not disclose what happened next, but he later confessed to the woman what he had done.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Selene Yap said that the offender had not managed to make any recordings or see the fifth victim via his mobile phone.

On Jan 5, 2022, he was charged in court and released on bail that same day.

At around the same time, he was doing an internship at a local attraction with three other people, including a male classmate, who discovered that the accused’s mobile phone contained upskirt videos.

DPP Yap said the classmate checked the offender’s mobile phone, which had been left on a table during lunch.

“He suspected that there were incriminating materials in the (device) based on conversations he had with the accused previously. He then saw that the accused’s handphone contained upskirt videos and reported it to a staff (member) at (the attraction),” she added.

Investigators later found out that the offender had recorded videos showing the genital areas of five unidentified women between Nov 7, 2022 and Jan 11, 2023 on the escalators at MRT stations.

The court has called for a report to assess the offender’s suitability for reformative training.

Those given such a sentence are detained in a centre where they observe a strict regimen that can include foot drills and counselling.

The offender will be sentenced in October.