SINGAPORE — A 22-year-old man was sentenced to a short-detention order of two weeks on Thursday (July 28) for trying to take a photograph of a fellow university student showering in their residential hall toilet.

Xu Ziye and the victim were both students at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) when Xu committed the offence in August 2020.

Xu, who is from China, pleaded guilty to one charge each of voyeurism and possessing 722 obscene films.

District Judge Shaiffudin Saruwan said on Thursday that despite the high degree of intrusion that Xu perpetrated on the victim, he found the offence to be "more spontaneous” and that the level of premeditation was "not high”.

Xu was also aged 20 when he committed the offence and had no criminal history.

His victim, now aged 24, as well as the NTU residential hall where they stayed, cannot be named to protect the victim’s identity.

In response to TODAY’s queries, NTU said that Xu was suspended for a semester and had to undergo counselling. He has since graduated.

NTU also said that it "extended support to the individuals involved” when the incident happened.

"The university takes a zero-tolerance approach to sexual misconduct.

"Any student who has committed such acts will be subject to disciplinary action, which may include suspension or expulsion from the university, depending on the nature and severity of the offence.”

What happened

The court heard that on Aug 26 in 2020, Xu and the victim entered a second-floor men’s toilet in the hostel at the same time.

Xu went to a toilet cubicle next to the victim’s, turned on the camera function of his iPhone and lifted it over the cubicle wall, aiming it at the other man.

The victim saw Xu’s device, shouted at him and immediately began putting on his pants.

Xu ran out of the toilet and returned to his room. He then sent text messages to his girlfriend on the phone, admitting that he had tried to take a photograph of the victim but he got caught and was now in trouble.

Shortly afterwards, the victim confronted Xu at his room where he confessed to what he did. The victim then called the police and said that an NTU security officer was with them in Xu’s room.

Police officers seized two iPhones and a MacBook Air laptop from Xu. They contained 722 sexually explicit video files.

For the detention order, Xu will serve time behind bars but will have no criminal record when released. The maximum period of a short-detention order — a form of community-based sentence — is two weeks.

Judges will consider the circumstances, including the nature of the offence and the offender’s character, before imposing a detention order.

For voyeurism, Xu could have been jailed for up to two years, fined, caned, or receive any combination of the three.

He could also have been jailed for up to six months or fined up to S$20,000, or both, for possessing obscene films. — TODAY