I stopped upskirter as I didn't want to repeat mistake: MRT hero
Man saw suspect place phone under woman's skirt at Marsiling MRT station
Eight years ago, he saw a man filming an upskirt video of a woman at an MRT station but did nothing as he was unsure of what to do.
Mr Goh Tong En, 26, has been plagued by guilt over the incident ever since.
But last month, while on his way to work at 8.20am, he saw a 27-year-old man at Marsiling MRT station shoving people aside as he rushed up the escalator to stand behind a woman.
When he saw the man place a mobile phone under the woman's turquoise knee-length skirt, he knew he could not make the same mistake twice and apprehended the culprit.
At a ceremony held at the Public Transport Security Command yesterday, Mr Goh, a Malaysian, was presented with the Public Spiritedness Award for detaining the man for insulting the modesty of a woman.
Mr Goh, who has been studying in Singapore since he was in Primary 1, said: "I did not even think about anything, I just knew I had to stop him."
Mr Goh said that after the man got close to the victim on the escalator, he put one leg up onto the step in front and placed his phone with the camera activated on that leg, and under the victim's skirt.
Mr Goh quickly moved forward and hit the man's arm.
He said: "I think I smacked his arm a bit too hard because he shouted in shock."
After stopping the man and informing the victim, Mr Goh asked a fellow commuter to watch him while Mr Goh went to alert the station's management office.
The police said that after further questioning, the man admitted to attempting to take upskirt photos of the victim. The case is under investigation.
The deputy commander of the Public Transport Security Command, Deputy Assistant Commissioner (DAC) of Police Evon Ng, commended Mr Goh, saying: "The Police are thankful to Mr Goh for his display of public spiritedness. Such acts go a long way to help deter crime on the public transport network."
DAC Ng added: "(We) don't want people to get away with crimes like this. Some people start small, but if they are not taken to task, who knows what could happen?"
She said the police cannot be everywhere at once and need members of the public to be the eyes and ears on the ground.
The number of insulting of modesty cases has been falling, with 597 cases in 2015, 531 in 2016 and 447 last year.
The award given to Mr Goh is the third of such awards given to people for helping to stop upskirt cases in MRT stations this year.
In June, The New Paper reported on how a British citizen was recognised by the police for helping to apprehend an upskirt suspect at Newton MRT Station.
And last month, four people were praised by the police for helping to nab two upskirt suspects at Tampines and Marymount MRT stations.
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