Man charged in latest NUS Peeping Tom case

Man charged in latest NUS Peeping Tom case
PHOTO: Facebook

The National University of Singapore (NUS) student who allegedly filmed a female hallmate in the shower last Saturday changed his clothes immediately to avoid being identified, said the police.

The latest alleged culprit in a string of Peeping Tom cases reported at local universities in the past month, Joel Rasis Ismail, 26, was charged in court yesterday with one count of criminal trespass and one count of insulting the modesty of a 23-year-old woman.

According to charge sheets, the Singaporean allegedly trespassed into a female bathroom at Kuok Foundation House, a building in NUS' Raffles Hall, on May 11 at about 6.30am.

He is said to have then used his mobile phone to record a video of the victim while she was in the shower.

CCTV

The police were alerted at about 8.10am and said in a statement yesterday that a suspect was arrested that day by officers from the Clementi Police Division.

Follow-up investigations and closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage helped to identify the suspect. His laptops, mobile phones and other storage devices were seized.

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The police said in the statement: "Investigations revealed that the man is a student of the university and resides in the same residential hall as the victim.

"He is believed to have tried to avoid being identified by changing his attire immediately after he had allegedly committed the offences."

The accused is believed to be involved in other similar cases, police added.

The judge yesterday approved the prosecution's application to remand Joel, who was unrepresented, at the Institute of Mental Health for psychiatric observation.

He will return to court on May 27.

If convicted of insulting a woman's modesty, he can be jailed up to a year, fined, or both.

If convicted of criminal trespass, he can jailed for up to three months, fined up to $1,500, or both.

The university has been enhancing security through improved CCTV coverage, upgrading of shower cubicles and toilet locks to make them more secure, and increased patrols by security officers.

The Straits Times reported that footage of last Saturday's alleged culprit was captured by a new CCTV camera installed just the day before.

Said an NUS spokesman: "The university is committed to accelerating the implementation of these security enhancements, but in the meantime, we would like to urge all students to remain vigilant and to report any suspicious activity to NUS campus security immediately."

This is the fourth reported case of on-campus voyeurism since NUS undergraduate Monica Baey took to social media to highlight her own experience with a Peeping Tom while showering at Eusoff Hall.

Three of these were reported at the Nanyang Technological University in as many weeks.

This article was first published in The New Paper. Permission required for reproduction.

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