SINGAPORE — A National University of Singapore (NUS) undergraduate caught on CCTV filming a female student in a hostel has been charged for the offence on Monday (13 May), in the latest in a string of cases involving voyeurs in universities.

Joel Rasis Ismail, 26, was charged with one count of criminal trespassing into a bathroom in Kuok Foundation House - a building within Raffles Hall - and one count of insulting the modesty of a 23-year-old female student, who was showering at the time.

Joel, who is a Raffles Hall resident himself, was arrested on Saturday (11 May) after the police were alerted to the case at 8.08am. He filmed the student showering at about 6.30am.

Police officers arrested him and seized his laptops, mobile phones and other storage devices for investigations.

According to the police, Joel attempted to avoid identification by changing his attire after the alleged offences. He is also believed to be involved in other similar cases, said the police.

Joel will be remanded at the Institute of Mental Health for psychiatric evaluation for two weeks. His case will be heard again on 27 May.

Four peeping tom cases at unis in a month

Joel's case is the fourth reported case involving voyeurs at universities since NUS undergraduate Monica Baey took to Instagram last month to vent her frustrations after being filmed while showering in NUS' Eusoff Hall.

Three peeping tom cases were reported to have taken place at Nanyang Technological University halls in recent weeks, according to local media reports.

Baey had called for tougher action to be taken against the perpetrator, who was made to write an apology letter and undergo mandatory counselling, in addition to being banned from entering Eusoff Hall and suspended from school for a semester.

Her Instagram posts caused a public outcry, leading to NUS announcing measures to boost security on its campus.

One of these measures include installing new CCTV cameras, which captured Joel, in its residential halls.

Other measures include upgrading shower cubicles and toilet locks to make them more secure, and to increase patrols by campus security officers.

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