SINGAPORE, July 26 — A man who has been in and out of jail three times for molestation offences was yesterday jailed again, this time for filming up a woman’s skirt in a lift of a public housing block.
Kamali Katne followed the victim for at least five minutes when it was close to midnight.
He then pushed her out of the lift and fled after she caught him in the act, evading arrest for two days by staying away from his home.
The 38-year-old Singaporean pleaded guilty to a single count of voyeurism and was sentenced to 15 weeks’ jail.
Another charge of using criminal force on the victim, 22, was taken into consideration for sentencing. She cannot be named due to a court order to protect her identity.
The court heard that Kamali decided to target the victim on the evening of April 17 this year after noticing her along Simei Street 1. She was wearing a white dress at the time.
She then waited at the lift lobby of a Housing and Development Board (HDB) block.
Kamali stood behind her and took a video of her back. He then wanted to take upskirt videos of her, Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Jaime Pang told the court.
Kamali then moved closer to the victim and tried to film up her skirt. At that point, the lift arrived at the ground floor and both of them entered.
He stood directly behind her and continued to film her back, before taking an upskirt video of her.
Upon feeling the device against her thigh and realising what he was doing, she shouted, “What are you doing?” and tried to snatch the phone from him.
However, he pushed her out of the lift when the doors opened on the eighth floor. He then took the lift to the 10th floor.
The victim’s father heard the commotion and saw her crying at the lift lobby. He chased after Kamali but lost sight of him eventually.
Kamali stayed away from his home, located a few blocks away, until two days later when police officers went to his workplace in Tampines. He had deleted all the incriminating material from his phone by then.
DPP Pang told the court that Kamali was sentenced to 10 months’ jail and three strokes of the cane in 2003 for outrage of modesty.
In 2005, he was jailed for five years and given six strokes of the cane for aggravated molestation. Shortly after being released, he was then sentenced in 2010 to eight years of corrective training and four strokes of the cane for molestation.
Corrective training is a harsher form of imprisonment, as the offender is unlikely to be given early release for factors such as good behaviour.
DPP Pang sought the sentence imposed, saying that Kamali’s actions were clearly premeditated and he had done it in a lift where the victim had no means of escape.
It was quite clear that the experience was “extremely traumatic” for her and he had been “preying on innocent women” since 2003, DPP Pang added.
Kamali, who did not have a lawyer, pleaded with District Judge Shawn Ho for “one more chance”.
For voyeurism, he could have been jailed for up to two years, fined, caned, or punished with any combination of the three. — TODAY
