- Illustrative photo.
SINGAPORE: A long-time tenant has been handed a jail sentence after he abused the trust of his landlord by taking voyeuristic videos of the woman and her child when she was between three and four years old.
The Malaysian man was found with videos and screenshots that date back to 2018. The 74 screenshots were from videos recorded of the landlord.
The 40-year-old was on Monday (Dec 30) sentenced to 19 months’ jail after pleading guilty to two voyeurism offences and one for insulting the modesty of a woman.
Two other charges were taken into consideration during his sentencing.
The man cannot be named as there is a gag order to protect the identity of the victims.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Lynda Lee said the man had been renting a bedroom in the woman’s Housing Board flat for 10 years when he was caught in the act.
His landlord lived there with her husband and their daughter.
The court heard that on the morning of April 8, the man was in the flat with the woman, 45, when he heard the sound of running water.
When he realised his landlord was in the shower, he sneaked into her room and held his phone beneath the toilet door with the video camera facing upwards.
DPP Lee said the man was so engrossed that he failed to realise that the victim was about to walk out.
She found him squatting on the floor with his phone pointed at her.
The man, who was employed as an aerospace machine operator in Singapore, ran back into his bedroom as the woman screamed.
She called her husband – who was at work at the time – and he immediately alerted the police.
Investigations revealed that the man had retained 24 videos and 74 screenshots in 14 devices – including four mobile phones, six thumb drives, three memory cards and one memory card reader.
He admitted to taking voyeuristic videos of the woman’s daughter.
The man was found with multiple videos of the young child in various states of undress. He said he pleasured himself to the videos of both the woman and her daughter.
DPP Lee read out in court parts of the victim’s statement, which said the woman is still suffering from the effects of the incident.
She is often worried that there is someone outside the toilet, even when she is alone.
The victim said her daughter remains unaware of the incidents.
The man could have been jailed for up to two years, fined and caned for intentionally observing someone doing an intimate or private act without his or her consent. - The Straits Times/ANN
