Jail for part-time tutor who filmed young students, own sisters in toilets over 10 years
SINGAPORE: In 2011, a man began illicitly filming females in their private moments, beginning with his sisters.
While he used his mobile phone initially, the man, now 31, started buying spy camera pens for the purpose and widened his net in the course of a decade to include scores of other victims, including his ex-girlfriend, cousin, and students and staff from an education centre he taught at part-time.
Investigators who went through his recordings established that they were filmed at the education centre, at the residences of relatives, friends and tutees, and in shopping centre toilets. No fewer than eight victims were identified in his videos.
The man, who cannot be named to protect the victims' identities, was handed a jail term of one year and five months on Thursday (Jun 19) over his offences.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of voyeurism and two of possessing voyeuristic images or recordings. Another six similar counts were taken into consideration for his sentencing.
Apart from teaching part-time at the education centre, the man gave home tuition and had a full-time job as an engineering assistant with an air-conditioning company.
PLACED PEN IN TOILET AT EDUCATION CENTRE
Between April 2020 and August 2021, while teaching at the education centre, the man placed a spy camera pen in a toilet cubicle at the centre, which was used by both males and females.
He recorded one of his tutees, a girl who was only nine years old at the time, relieving herself in a recording that lasted 10 minutes.
He later told investigators that he had started recording voyeuristic videos at the education centre in May 2018.
FILMED SISTER
One occasion where the man filmed one of his sisters occurred on Jun 27, 2021.
He switched on a spy camera pen and placed it in recording mode in a toilet before positioning its lens to face the toilet bowl.
The sister, then 26, eventually used the toilet, and the man retrieved the pen later. The recording lasted nearly nine minutes and captured the woman relieving herself.
CAUGHT BY DOMESTIC HELPER
The man's long-time offending came to an end when a vigilant domestic worker spotted one of his pens in a toilet and picked it up with the intention of reporting the matter.
On Aug 31, 2021, the man went to a residence to provide tuition to a boy. At about 8pm, he went to use the toilet, intending to set up a spy camera pen to record the domestic helper.
He placed the pen on a pipe facing outwards towards the rest of the toilet before returning to his tuition session.
He returned to retrieve the pen after the helper had used the toilet, but discovered that the device was missing.
The maid had entered the toilet to shower, but as she was suspicious of the man, she decided to shower with the lights off.
When she spotted the pen after completing her shower, she quickly got dressed and picked up the pen, wanting to inform the tutee's parents about the device.
However, she was spotted holding on to the pen by the man after she exited the toilet. She returned the device to him when he asked her to do so, as she felt scared.
The domestic helper eventually still informed the tutee's mother, and the police were called. One of the boy's parents informed the police that an attempt to check the contents of the camera had been made, but that this had been unsuccessful.
The parent added: "The teacher said he (dropped) it in the toilet and (tried) to recover it."
ACCUSED ARRESTED
The man was placed under arrest and escorted to his residence on Sep 1, 2021, where police officers seized electronic devices, including four disassembled spy camera pen parts, one spy camera pen, two laptops and a mobile phone.
The man then came clean about filming females in compromising states since 2011, starting with his sisters while they were in the toilet.
He said he would typically have at least two functional spy camera pens, and would bring one out with him.
He would periodically download the footage recorded and transfer it to his hard disks when they began taking up too much space on his laptops.
No fewer than 55 images and recordings of victims – both staff and students at the education centre – were found in the devices, with the recordings being around 10 minutes long on average.
Another 24 images and recordings of victims younger than 14 were found. There were 87 images and recordings in total.
The prosecution said this was a case of a person abusing his position of trust by planting cameras in the homes of his tutee and family, as well as the education centre.
"The filming of voyeuristic videos took place over 10 years. No less than eight victims were identifiable in the voyeuristic videos he took, including two of his students who were younger than 14 years old," it added, arguing for no less than two-and-a-half years' jail.
The man's lawyer Kalidass Murugaiyan cited his client's various disorders, namely social anxiety disorder, voyeuristic disorder and major depressive disorder with anxious distress, in mitigation.
However, District Judge Tan Jen Tse noted that there was nothing in the man's medical reports to indicate that he had been deprived totally or substantively of his self-control.
The man had been aware of his actions and their wrongness, and there was no lack of impulse control, said Judge Tan, pointing to the planning and premeditation involved in the offences.
He said that the case showed a "gross abuse of trust" as it took place at venues where children and parents have a right to feel safe.
General and specific deterrence still outweigh rehabilitation in this case, indicated Judge Tan, who said that he had still taken into account the man's conditions and how he was actively seeking treatment.
Voyeurism carries a jail term of up to two years, a fine, caning, or any combination of these penalties.
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