In Singapore, part-time tutor admits to using spy-camera pen to film own sisters, maid and nine-year-old student in toilets

SINGAPORE, Sept 7 — A part-time tutor used a spy camera implanted in a pen to record voyeuristic videos of fellow staff members and young students using the toilet at an education centre where he worked, doing this over three years or so.

Investigations later uncovered about 80 voyeuristic images or video recordings taken at the centre, including 24 that showed children under the age of 14.

Investigators also found out that the man had begun his voyeuristic pursuits as early as 2011, when he started by filming his own sisters using mobile phones.

Yesterday, the 30-year-old Singaporean pleaded guilty to three counts of voyeurism and two of possessing voyeuristic materials.

Six similar charges will be taken into consideration for his sentencing.

He cannot be named under a court order to protect the victims’ identities.

District Judge Tan Jen Tse called for a report to assess if the man is suitable for a mandatory treatment order and adjourned sentencing to November.

A mandatory treatment order is a community sentencing option offered to offenders suffering from mental conditions that contributed to the offence.

The man is expected to be sentenced on November 18.

Court documents showed that sometime between April 2020 and August 31, 2021, he placed a “spy-camera pen” inside a toilet cubicle located at the education centre.

The toilet was used by both sexes.

The device recorded a nine-year-old female student using the toilet. Although she was wearing a face mask, he was able to recognise her from the footage.

This was one of many videos recovered by investigators in the man’s portable hard-disk drive.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Chong Yong said in court documents: “(The accused) informed investigators that he had started recording voyeuristic videos in such a manner at the education centre sometime in May 2018.”

Court documents showed that besides students and staff members at the centre, his victims also included his ex-girlfriend, sisters, a friend and cousin.

On June 27, 2021, he went to someone’s home with his younger sister, then aged 26, and a mutual friend.

During the visit, he switched on a spy-camera pen and placed it in the toilet “intending to intentionally record the second victim (his sister)”, the prosecution said.

It captured his younger sister using the toilet.

Two months later, while tutoring a male student at the home belonging to the student’s grandparent, the man placed his spy-camera pen in the toilet hoping to capture a domestic worker taking a shower there.

The worker spotted the pen after taking her shower, quickly put on her clothes, took the device and went to inform the student’s parents, who lived on a different floor at the same housing block.

The man, upon finding the pen missing after she left the toilet, followed her when he saw her heading out and asked her for the pen.

Frightened, she gave it to him, but later informed the student’s mother about what had happened and the police were called that day.

A search at the man’s residence the next day and further investigations uncovered voyeuristic images and videos taken using different devices. These captured the victims engaging in private acts such as showering or urinating.

He informed investigators that he first started in 2011 to film females in the toilet, when he would use his mobile phone to take footages of his sisters, DPP Chong said.

He eventually started buying spy-camera pens online and he told investigators that he would have at least one pen with him when he leaves home.

For each count of voyeurism, he can be jailed for up to two years, fined, caned or be handed any combination of such punishments. Possession of such voyeuristic materials also attract a similar set of punishments. — TODAY