Man jailed 12 weeks for filming tenant in the shower

Man jailed 12 weeks for filming tenant in the shower

A man who filmed his tenant bathing in the toilet was sentenced to 12 weeks' jail on Thursday for insulting modesty.

Sebastian Ong Wei Hee, 32, admitted to two of seven charges of intruding into the privacy of his 24-year-old victim in late April and on May 5 last year.

The victim, who cannot be named because of a gag order, had been renting a room from Ong since February 2013.

Investigations showed that Ong had been recording the tenant in the shower, using a pinhole camera, without her knowledge since 2013. After filming her for a few minutes, he would watch the video on his computer before transferring it to an external hard disk.

The court heard that in one incident, the tenant was in the kitchen toilet in late April last year when Ong placed the pinhole camera between the crack of the toilet door and the floor to film her taking a shower.

After filming her for about seven minutes, he removed the pinhole camera and watched the video on his computer in his room.

At about 1am on May 5 that same year, the victim was taking a shower when she found a pinhole camera at the toilet door.

She picked it up.

Shortly after she left the toilet, Ong asked her for the item.

She returned it to him as she did not know what it was.

She realised that it was a pinhole camera only after she informed her boyfriend about the incident.

Her boyfriend lodged a police report that same day.

Pleading for leniency, Ong's lawyer Murugaiyan Kalidass said that his client suffered from voyeurism and major depressive disorder.

He added that Ong is undergoing counselling.

Ong could have been jailed for up to one year and/or fined for insulting modesty.


This article was first published on August 8, 2015.
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