SINGAPORE, Oct 29 — A 50-year-old Singaporean man was sentenced to 21 weeks in prison yesterday for filming voyeuristic videos of his wife’s niece and digitally altering her likeness into pornographic content.

The identity of the offender is protected under a gag order, as is that of the victim, who was 23 at the time of the offences.

Media outlet CNA reported today that the man, who worked as a designer, pleaded guilty to charges of voyeurism and possessing modified intimate videos intended to humiliate the victim.

Court proceedings revealed that the offender married his wife in 2017 and they share a daughter.

Following their marriage, he moved in with his wife and her niece, who had been living with them since 2006, when she came to Singapore for her studies.

In 2019, the offender purchased an apartment where he lived with both his wife and the niece, who had her own room.

Over time, marital disputes began to escalate, leading to significant tension in the household.

According to court documents, the offender developed a "curiosity” about the niece’s activities in the toilet, a feeling exacerbated by his frustration in the marriage.

Between May and July 2022, he installed a small video camera in the niece’s toilet on three separate occasions, later retrieving the device to view the footage.

The recordings included instances of the young woman applying moisturiser while in her underwear and other undressed states.

He then acquired a Wi-Fi-enabled camera, which he used on six occasions in early July 2022, capturing the niece during private moments, including showering and changing clothes.

On one occasion, he placed a camera under her bed while vacuuming her room, recording her as she undressed.

The situation escalated when the niece discovered the first camera taped under her sink on July 12, 2022.

Distressed, she reported the incident to her aunt and contacted the police, who arrested the offender shortly thereafter.

During her packing to move out, she found the second camera hidden under her bed and handed it over to law enforcement.

Investigations led police to seize the offender’s electronic devices, revealing 17 videos that appeared to depict the niece in various sexual situations.

The man later confessed to using his design skills to superimpose the niece’s face onto pornographic videos, employing a smartphone application for this purpose.

During the sentencing, CNA reported prosecutors as seeking a term of 24 to 29 weeks in jail, highlighting the violation of trust, as the niece had known the offender since her teenage years.

They noted the potential risk of the videos being leaked, although the offender did not distribute them.

The prosecution characterised the explicit nature of the altered videos as a gross violation of privacy, despite the victim not being aware of their existence and not suffering emotional harm.

The defence requested a lighter sentence of 15 weeks, asserting that the offender expressed deep remorse and faced significant personal challenges, including an adjustment disorder linked to his troubled marriage and financial issues.

A psychiatric report indicated that these stressors contributed to an increase in alcohol consumption and pornography usage.

The offender reportedly experienced a sense of control when viewing the videos, which he set up following arguments with his wife.

The man is scheduled to begin serving his sentence on November 15.