Woman corners man who allegedly took secret video of her

A woman confronted a man who was stalking her and secretly taking videos of her in public.

Local actress and theatre practitioner Shu Yi Ching took to Instagram on Sunday (Aug 20) after she caught a member of the public taking photos and videos of her without consent.

"Posting this here. Because it is important to speak up, it is important to stand my ground, it is important for this to be seen. We need to be heard,” she said in the caption.

Speaking to AsiaOne, Ms Ching said that she spotted a man in a white T-shirt taking photos and videos of her while she was shopping at Spotlight, Plaza Singapura, on Aug 18 at around 3.15pm.

"When I turned the corner and into the next aisle, I caught a glimpse of him following me. And that was when he came towards me with his phone raised, camera facing directly towards the upper half of my body,” she said.

She could not decide if she wanted to confront him. 

"But my gut feeling told me that my safety was threatened, and I decided to follow him to see if I was right," she told AsiaOne.

As she approached the man, "he walked quickly out of the store and turned to see if I was following him."

"That was when I knew for sure something was up." 

Before she decided to record him on video, she asked him if she could check his phone gallery to see if her suspicions were correct, "but he was frantically trying to erase evidence."

"And as I kept questioning him he finally admitted that he took a photo of me. 

“That is when I decided to whip out my phone to capture the video, to document it for the police,” she said.

The man can be seen trying to escape in the video she posted but she continues to chase him.

"You took a video of me, without my consent. I confronted you and you admitted that you did, so I need to see you delete the video or else I will call the police. 

“This is a violation of human rights,” she shouts at him.

Cornered by Ms Ching at the carpark, the man says: "Okay wait, hold on." 

He then deletes the videos and photos taken of her from his phone. 

"Why do you think that you can take a video of me?" she asks.

Aware that he is being recorded, the man keeps apologising for his mistake to which Ms Ching replies, "Sorry doesn't cut it."

The man tries to cover his face but she continues filming and says: "You think you can take a video of me, but I can't take a video of you?"

"I am so sorry please, can you leave me alone?" he asks. 

When Ms Ching says that she is going to report him to the police, he tries to flee.

By providence, an off-duty police officer with the surname Lim happens to be in the same area and steps in to stop the man.

Officer Lim shows his police warrant card and says, "I am a police officer. Please stand at the corner. Let's find out what happened first."

He tells Ms Ching to call the police.

 

 

 

 

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"While waiting for the police to arrive, the entire time the man was telling me to forgive him and that he has a wife and child, and that he didn't want to be in trouble with his family," said Ms Ching.

Ms Ching told AsiaOne that two police officers arrived at the scene and they took her statement and asked if she wanted to pursue the case. 

As the suspected man deleted all the photos and videos, the police officers told Ms Ching that they would be unable to make an arrest.

"But his phone has been confiscated for further investigation," she said. 

In a follow-up video posted on the same day, the actress said that that was not the first time that such an incident had happened to her but "unfortunately, I never confronted them". 

"I've always doubted myself whether it could be true that another person would violate my privacy, and always struggled to pluck up the courage to confront the man."

But she was convinced that this time when it happened, she wasn't going to let the perpetrator off easily.

"I give you permission to share my story because we need to do something about this. I am done living a life in fear and anxiety," she said in the video captions.

Ms Ching received many positive comments that supported her decision to confront the man, with several calling her "brave" and "strong".

Some even shared their personal stories where they had encountered similar incidents. 

"My heart and support goes out to all of them," she said.