12 weeks' jail for 46-year-old man who had crush on male intern, took videos of him in company toilet

Nadine Chua
The Straits Times
Oct 13, 2023

A man who had a crush on a 23-year-old male intern in his company was jailed on Friday for taking multiple voyeuristic videos of the young man.

The offender, 46, was jailed for 12 weeks on Friday after pleading guilty to two counts of recording the victim doing a private act without his consent. He cannot be named because of a gag order to protect the victim’s identity.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Kathy Chu said the man took multiple videos of the victim on eight occasions between January and March 2023.

The prosecution added that the offender had been working as a principal engineer at a company since 2014, while the victim joined the company as an intern in January.

In mid-January, the offender noticed that the victim, whom he had developed a crush on, would use the handicapped cubicle in the toilet at around 4pm daily.

On Jan 31, when the victim entered the toilet cubicle and squatted on the floor to clean himself, the offender used his mobile phone to record a video of the victim through the gap between the cubicle partition and the floor.

The victim noticed the mobile phone in recording mode, banged on the partition, and managed to take a photo of the offender’s sneakers through the gap. The victim immediately informed his supervisor about the incident, and they waited outside the toilet.

When no one appeared after some time, they left. The victim’s supervisor then told him that it might have been a misunderstanding as the person he saw might have been just picking up his mobile phone.

A few days later, the victim saw the offender wearing the same sneakers as those in the photo he had taken. But he did not confront the offender as he wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt after what his supervisor had told him.

On Feb 24, the offender took a video of the victim in the same way he did previously.

When the victim saw this, he told his supervisor about it, and they identified the offender by name from the company’s organisational chart. The victim then sent an internal e-mail complaint to the company’s management.

On March 10, the offender struck again. The victim saw what he did and informed the management. Internal investigations ensued, and he was advised to make a police report.

Overall, the offender took videos of the victim in the toilet on eight occasions, seven of which involved recordings that captured the victim’s genitals.

The prosecution sought between 12 and 13 weeks’ jail for the offender and added that as a result of his actions, the victim feels uncomfortable each time he enters a toilet.

Those convicted of intentionally recording someone else doing a private act without their consent can be jailed for up to two years, fined, caned, or handed any combination of such punishments.