10 weeks' jail for toilet peeping Tom

A former senior executive of a Japanese company who planted a pinhole camera under the sink of a toilet cubicle for the handicapped to spy on users was jailed for 10 weeks yesterday.

Shingo Yamamoto, 30, was caught after his 33-year-old colleague heard something drop on the floor while she was in the office restroom on Jan 16. She realised it was a tiny camera, and the police were called.

Yamamoto, who was fired by the company, pleaded guilty to two of four charges of insulting modesty in the toilet of his city-area office.

The company is not being named due to a gag order to protect the victims' identities.

Yamamoto had gone to the toilet at about 1pm that day to tape the camera under the sink. He put the camera in recording mode and had it pointed towards the toilet bowl.

Two women used the loo before the camera was found.

His lawyer, Mr Danny Quah Wei Sheng, said Yamamoto committed the single criminal act in a momentary lapse of judgment. He has apologised to the company and the victims.

District Judge Janet Wang said there was pre-meditation in this case.

She felt that Yamamoto's culpability was greater than "upskirt'' situations, and said that if he had not been caught, there might have been more videos.

He could have been jailed for up to one year and fined for each count of intruding on the privacy of women.

This article was published on May 17 in The Straits Times.

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