Voyeur stops smiling after judge asks his lawyer during sentencing: 'Why is your client smiling?'

Shaffiq Alkhatib
The Straits Times
June 1, 2023

Over two years, on almost 100 occasions, he used a hidden camera disguised as a smoke detector inside a toilet to film at least five women, including his own friends.

Darren Yeo Wei Hong, 34, who committed the offences between 2013 and 2015, distributed some of the videos to others whom he knew might know the victims.

But on Thursday, just before Yeo was sentenced to a year’s jail for his offences, he did something that concerned Senior District Judge Bala Reddy.

It prompted the judge to ask Yeo’s lawyer: “Why is your client smiling?”

Yeo had pleaded guilty to 11 charges, including multiple counts of insulting a woman’s modesty.

His offences came to light when a man saw some of the videos on Yeo’s Instagram account and alerted the police in April 2019.

There is a gag order on where the offences were committed to protect the victims’ identities.

On Thursday, more than 20 people – including some of Yeo’s victims – were at the State Courts to witness justice being served.

Most were dressed in black. While around 10 secured seats inside the gallery, others had to wait outside as the courtroom could not accommodate them all.

A hush fell as Yeo arrived with his wife. The couple hugged before he entered the dock.

Yeo was smiling as he stood in the dock, prompting Judge Reddy to call him out for doing so.

Defence lawyer Shashi Nathan said his client was nervous, and Yeo stopped smiling.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Vincent Ong told the court that Yeo had bought the camera, installed it over a shower cubicle in a women’s restroom and recorded videos of his victims.

He retrieved the clips, saved them on a memory card and downloaded them onto his laptop.

As Yeo knew some of the victims, he saved their videos under their names.

He created two Instagram accounts to send videos of them showering to others.

He also used his mobile phone to record these videos and distributed them electronically. He was finally caught in 2019 and his hard disk drive contained at least 690 obscene films.

He had downloaded these videos from the Internet, said the DPP.

Separately, between 2010 and 2012, Yeo rummaged through several women’s bags, in a common room in the building, to take their bras.

He took pictures of himself wearing them before putting them back in the bags.

On Thursday, DPP Ong urged the court to sentence Yeo to between a year and 15 months’ jail as his culpability was high, and his offences were premeditated.

Yeo was represented by Mr Nathan and Ms Laura Yeo who pleaded for their client to be given between 8½ months’ and 11 months’ jail.

Mr Nathan said Yeo was remorseful and wanted to seek forgiveness from his victims.

Judge Reddy noted that according to psychiatric evaluations, Yeo suffers from paraphilic and voyeuristic disorders, which contributed to his offences.

However, the judge stressed that Yeo’s offences were serious and they had caused significant harm to the victims.

He added: “The videos captured sensitive and intimate areas of the victims’ bodies, resulting in a gross invasion of their privacy, and causing distress and emotional harm.

“Furthermore, the accused compounded his offences by distributing these videos electronically through Instagram, amplifying the harm caused to the victims and perpetuating their violation.

“The videos showed a complete disregard for the dignity and autonomy of the individuals depicted, further aggravating the severity of the offences.”

Describing Yeo’s conduct as reprehensible and warranting condemnation, Judge Reddy said such behaviour should not be tolerated in society.

He added that the privacy, dignity and autonomy of individuals must be respected, and those who commit such offences will face serious consequences under the law.