TS tio charged?
A judge said the 41-year-old man had clearly planned his actionsHe planted hidden cameras in bathrooms to film nine victimsHe also posted screenshots from the videos on the Sammyboy forum alongside a sexual fantasy story he wrote
SINGAPORE — A married man went from posting comments on sex-themed online forum Sammyboy to uploading screenshots of videos he secretly recorded in order to “score more points” or gain acceptance with the online forum community.
The Singaporean, who is now 41 and cannot be named to protect the identity of his victims, planted pinhole cameras in his own house from 2008 onwards to film his wife, sister-in-law, fellow church members, mentor and family friends showering.
He also planted the cameras in other places.
On Wednesday (Aug 11), he was sentenced to 28 weeks’ jail and a fine of S$6,000 in a district court.
He had pleaded guilty last month to 11 charges of insulting a woman’s modesty, transmitting obscene material, making insulting communications that caused distress under the Protection from Harassment Act, and possessing obscene films.
Sixteen other similar charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.
‘FELT ACCEPTED’ BY SAMMYBOY COMMUNITY
The court earlier heard that he began his illicit filming spree in 2008 when he was 29 years old.
He secretly planted devices containing pinhole cameras in the toilets at his mother-in-law’s house and a church friend’s home, as well as his own.
He frequented Sammyboy and began posting comments as he “felt accepted” by the forum community and “felt that the church community were hypocrites”, said Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) R Arvindren.
To gain more attention, he started uploading screenshots of the videos he took.
If he did not have nude photos of his victims, he uploaded those of adult actresses beside his victims’ photos.
He would watch pornographic videos to identify actresses who somehow resembled them.
One of them was a close church friend who allowed him to shower at her place after a jogging session.
He seized the chance to put a hidden camera in her bathroom.
After obtaining videos of her showering, he incorporated 12 screenshots from the videos into a sexual fantasy story he was writing on Sammyboy.
Between 2010 and 2013, he also posted multiple screenshots of his sister-in-law showering at her mother’s house, as well as his church mentor showering at his own place after a jogging session.
After two years, he grew bored of the story and “developed a few ideas to keep his readership up and gain more points on Sammyboy”, DPP Arvindren said.
In September 2016, he downloaded his church friend’s photo from Facebook and posted it on the forum. He also posted a screenshot of her nude in the shower with her face exposed.
About a month later, a friend informed her that her picture was on Sammyboy.
She lodged a police report at Bedok North Neighbourhood Police Centre shortly afterwards.
The man deleted his Sammyboy account before being arrested at his home but police seized numerous devices there including three external hard drives and five micro SD cards containing the nude photos and videos.
He also surrendered an iPad from his office.
‘THERE MAY BE NO END TO HER TRAUMA': JUDGE
When passing sentence on Wednesday, District Judge Adam Nakhoda said the man had “acted in a wholly callous manner with no consideration to the harm caused to his victims”.
While his lawyer tried to argue that he had uploaded the last victim’s photo, which showed her face, as he wanted to get caught, the judge found it a “completely unacceptable” mitigating factor.
It merely emphasised the callousness of his actions, Judge Nakhoda added.
“There is really no way to prevent further circulation of her face and there may be no end to her trauma,” the judge told the court.
He said that the man had clearly planned his offences.
Most egregiously, he had set up a hidden camera in the bathroom of his church friend’s home where “she had every right to feel safe and secure in”.
While he was diagnosed with an unspecified paraphilic or voyeuristic disorder, District Judge Nakhoda gave little weight to that as he said that did not affect his impulse control.
The judge added that without certain mitigating factors, such as the man wanting to apologise to his victims and making significant efforts to rehabilitate himself, he would have gotten “far stiffer sentences”.
For each charge of insulting a woman’s modesty, he could have been jailed up to a year, fined or both.
Those who secretly film others can be convicted of voyeurism if they did so after amendments to the Penal Code kicked in this year. They can be jailed up to two years, fined or both.
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19-10-2023, 11:03 AM
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