Male nurse jailed for taking photos of female colleagues changing in hospital toilet
SINGAPORE — A nurse was jailed 12 weeks on Wednesday (26 June) for taking compromising photographs of his female colleagues in a staff toilet at the hospital where they worked.
The 27-year-old man would take the photos in the unisex toilet, typically while the women were changing into their work uniforms.
The man, who is no longer working in the hospital, cannot be named to protect the victims' identities.
He pleaded guilty to four out of eight counts of insulting the modesty of a woman.
His offences came to light after a 24-year-old female nurse caught him red-handed and reported his actions to the police.
On 11 May last year, the nurse bumped into the man at the entrance of the unisex bathroom. They entered the bathroom together and occupied separate cubicles, which were side by side. As the man felt attracted to his co-worker, he decided to take photographs of her undressing.
He switched on the video recording mode on his mobile phone underneath the cubicle divider and filmed her while she was changing out of her uniform. As the woman bent down to put on her shoes, she noticed the mobile phone. She heard the man saying “oh s**t” before retracting his hand.
The man left the toilet and returned to work. He deleted the video after watching it for fear of being caught.
After the man was arrested, the mobile phone was seized from him and compromising photographs of at least seven other female staff were found, with most taken in May.
The man admitted to taking the photographs as he wanted to know how they looked like without clothes. Mo
Deputy Public Prosecutor Shenna Tjoa sought a jail sentence of 14 weeks, saying the offence was more "invasive" than other similar cases as the man had abused the trust placed in him by preying on his own colleagues.
In mitigation, the man's lawyer Charlene Nah said that her client had been influenced by upskirt videos that he had seen online.
Pointing out that the man did not use sophisticated IT devices, Nah said, "His actions arose from youthful foolishness, spontaneity or impulsiveness...as well as an incomplete appreciation of the significance of his actions.”
Seeking six weeks’ jail for her client, Nah added that the man’s girlfriend has forgiven him and he intends to marry her.
District Judge Adam Nakhoda said the defence's proposed sentence was inadequate, saying that the case not a one-off and that he had waited for the victims to use the cubicle.
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