SINGAPORE, Feb 9 — A 17-year-old boy confessed today to filming a man using the toilet at Bishan’s Junction 8 mall and pleasuring himself as he watched the footage until the police arrived and arrested him.The teenager, who cannot be named by law because he is below 18, pleaded guilty to one charge of recording a person doing a private act without consent.
The male victim, 23, cannot be named because of a court order to protect his identity. District Judge Salina Ishak called for a report to assess whether the boy is suitable for probation, which is usually offered to first-time offenders between 16 and 21 years old. Probation does not result in a recorded criminal conviction.
The judge will take into consideration the boy’s possession of obscene films on his mobile phone during sentencing.
The case
Around 4pm on April 4 last year, a man was relieving himself in a toilet at Junction 8 when he saw a phone camera pointed towards him from underneath the cubicle wall.
The man then knocked on the cubicle wall and pulled up his pants quickly.
He left the cubicle and saw that only one other cubicle was occupied. He decided to call the police and wait for the culprit to emerge from the cubicle.
The boy tried to leave, but retreated into the cubicle upon seeing the man.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Rashvinpal Kaur Dhaliwal said that when the police arrived, the man identified the boy as the individual who had filmed him.
During police investigations, the boy admitted to officers that he had pleasured himself while watching the video, which captured the man sitting on the toilet bowl.
The man’s private parts were not visible. The boy deleted the video when the police arrived. Forensic screenings later revealed that his phone contained eight obscene films.
The boy will return to court on March 23 to be sentenced.
Recording a person in the midst of a private act without consent carries a jail term of up to two years or a fine or caning, or any combination of these punishments. — TODAY
