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Judge grants bid by undergrad facing toilet filming charges to leave Singapore for top British university Photo illustration of a voyeur filming in a women's toilet. By Lydia Lam 10 Jan 2020 03:35PM (Updated: 10 Jan 2020 05:17PM) SINGAPORE: A district judge on Friday (Jan 10) granted a young man accused of illicitly filming 11 women his request to leave Singapore to attend his second school term at a top British university. The 22-year-old undergraduate and the university cannot be named due to gag orders preventing the publication of anything that might identify the victims. After mulling the matter for two days, District Judge Adam Nakhoda granted the accused his request to leave jurisdiction, stating that the man intends to claim trial, "as is his right". "It is not for me at this time to decide if he is guilty or not," said the judge. "I agree it's somewhat speculative to say that the family would agree to support the accused as a fugitive, should he decide to abscond. There is no evidence at this time to support this." Deputy Public Prosecutors Foo Shi Hao and Tan Zhi Hao had argued against allowing the application, saying the man was from a family of "substantial means" who would be able to support the accused's comfortable lifestyle abroad if he absconded. The young man faces 20 charges in all and is accused of filming at least 11 women, capturing images of their private parts and faces over three years. He is accused of luring several victims to his house, where he had secretly installed cameras. While stressing that the offences are serious ones, the judge noted that it was not the first time the accused had applied to leave the country. The accused was previously allowed to leave the country when he faced only two charges for offences committed when he was 18 or 19. The accused would have been aware that if he came back and was tried for more offences as an adult, he could be jailed, but he did not abscond, said the judge. "It would be reasonable to allow the accused to leave jurisdiction to continue his education, at least for the next school term," said the judge. He ordered that the bail amount be doubled to S$40,000 if the accused goes overseas. The prosecution said they intend to file a criminal motion in High Court against the decision allowing the accused to leave the country. They applied for the judge to stay the leaving of jurisdiction until then, which means that the accused cannot leave the country to attend school until after the criminal motion is heard. This could be after the school term starts. If found guilty, the man faces up to a year's jail, a fine or both per charge of insulting a woman's modesty. Source: CNA/ll(hs) https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/undergrad-toilet-filming-leave-singapore-top-british-university-12250052

Jail for Sammyboy Forum member who secretly filmed women in cafe toilet and had 2,103 obscene clips A digital marketing specialist went to a Holland Village cafe and installed a hidden camera shaped like a metal hook in its unisex toilet to record videos of unsuspecting women. Clarence Tang Jia Ming, 27, would later delete the videos of women who appeared to be more than 25 years old. Videos showing male patrons were also deleted, the court heard. Tang was sentenced on Thursday (March 21) to three years' jail. He pleaded guilty in 2018 to 30 counts of insulting a woman's modesty and one count of being in possession of 2,103 obscene films for the purpose of distribution. Forty-five other charges for similar offences were considered during sentencing. Tang, who committed the offences between 2014 and 2016, was the fifth and final man to be convicted in a case involving online groups that shared voyeuristic videos taken with hidden cameras in places such as public toilets and changing rooms. The four others were customer service officer Ong Yi Jie, 27; former sales engineer Joel Chew Weichen, also 27; fund accountant Shaun Lee, 29; and former security guard Ali V.P. Mohamed, 46. They had been jailed for between six months and three years. All five men were members of Sammyboy Forum, which is a predominantly sex-themed online site that contained hundreds of threads sharing obscene material. Tang registered an account on the forum in 2009 and five years later, he came across a thread in which Ong posted hidden-camera films he had recorded. The pair began to exchange private messages and Tang told Ong, who is also known as Kenneth, that he also wanted to make such clips. They met at the Holland Village cafe, where Ong taught him how to install the hook-shaped hidden camera in the toilet. After this meeting, Tang would go to the cafe and install the camera to capture videos of his unsuspecting victims. On Nov 11, 2016, the Ministry of Education reported to the police that it had received information on obscene videos circulating on the Internet of schoolgirls in toilets or changing rooms taken with hidden cameras. The clips were found on platforms such as Google groups and the Sammyboy Forum. Police raided Tang's home 18 days later and seized items, including two external hard drives containing the 2,103 obscene films. Tang is out on bail of $15,000. He was ordered to surrender himself at the State Courts on April 11 to begin serving his sentence. For each count of insulting a woman's modesty, he could have been jailed for up to a year and fined.