An expelled student at Yale-NUS College who secretly took videos of his suite mates showering was sentenced to 27 weeks in jail on Feb. 7, 2020.

The accused, who cannot be named due to a gag order, stood in court on Jan. 31, 2020, holding a solemn expression as his sentence was heard.

Admitted to filming shower, upskirt videos of women

On Jan. 13, 2020, the accused admitted to eight charges of insulting a woman’s modesty, with another 16 charges taken into consideration.

Apart from taking clips of his suite mates in the shower, he also pleaded guilty to filming various upskirt videos of women in Yale-NUS College.

A police report was lodged on March 13, 2019, and a raid was conducted the same day at the man’s residence, where a phone, an iPad, a MacBook and a hard drive were seized.

Prosecution asked for 30 weeks’ jail, defence asked for 20

On Jan. 31, Deputy Public Prosecutor Gabriel Lim asked for at least 30 weeks’ jail for the accused, considering that the accused took five shower videos and three upskirt videos of multiple female victims across one year.

Lim stated that the accused had abused the trust of his female housemates repeatedly, and had gone undetected for a whole year, and was not a one-time offence.

Defence lawyer Josephus Tan of Invictus law asked the court for a sentence of not more than 20 weeks' jail during the mitigation plea in the previous hearing, stating that his client had a strong propensity for reform.

Tan highlighted that his client’s accolades and achievements, strong support from his family, and the fact that he has secured a job post-sentence.

He added that his client has enjoyed the strong support of a loving community comprising his own immediate family and church members, who were present in court.

Tan also said that the accused’s fiancee stands by him, and that they are planning to get married at the end of the year.

The accused, Tan adds, has also secured a full-time job after his release, with his employer fully in support of the accused’s rehabilitation.

He also took into account that the accused had pleaded guilty rather than claiming trial.

Sentenced to 27 weeks in jail

District judge Adam Nakhoda sentenced the accused to 27 weeks in jail, noting that the high level of intrusion by the accused was an aggravating factor.

He added that the videos, which captured the naked bodies and faces of the victims, were also sent to his computer, which automatically uploaded on iCloud, thus carrying a risk of dissemination.

Although the videos were not disseminated to the public, it was not a mitigating factor as the risk was still there, Nakhoda said.

However, Nakhoda took into account that he was cooperative with the authorities "when (the accused) knew his time was up", he noted.

He also backdated the sentence to Jan. 13, 2020, when the accused was remanded.

For insulting a woman’s modesty, he could be jailed up to a year, fined, or both.

Read more about the case here:

Top image via Julia Yeo