IT consultant who filmed 10 men urinating in Nanyang Polytechnic toilet jailed 6 weeks
An IT consultant who filmed 10 men urinating in a public toilet at Nanyang Polytechnic was jailed six weeks on Wednesday (8 November).
Kwan Jia Hong, 34, pleaded guilty to two charges of making an obscene film and one charge of possessing an obscene film. Five other similar charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.
The court heard that Kwan went to the polytechnic on 14 July last year around 11am to do some work. He chose the location to take advantage of the free parking.
At about 2.10pm, Kwan visited a male public toilet on the ground floor of the Polytechnic with the intention of filming unsuspecting males relieving themselves. Deputy Public Prosecutor Sruthi Boppana said the toilet chosen by Kwan was frequented by many people including students given its location.
Kwan would follow his victims to the urinals and stand at a urinal beside them. He would turn on the video recording function on his handphone, hold it with one hand, and position the camera lens towards their lower body and record them urinating. After recording a video, he would leave the toilet to wait for another victim, and repeat the whole process.
In total, six videos were captured over one hour and 15 minutes. One of the videos lasted 57 seconds and captured five different males urinating, while another lasted for more than a minute, showing one victim urinating, and subsequently walking over to the sink area to wash his hands and arrange his hair. All the videos captured the victims’ genitals.
One of the victims, an 18-year-old student at the polytechnic, got suspicious over Kwan’s action and decided to observe him for a longer period. He later confronted him but Kwan refused to allow the student to check his phone initially. After the student called the police, Kwan offered to settle the matter with him and told the student that he would delete the video, but the offer was refused.
Police subsequently arrive at 5pm and seized Kwan’s phone to conduct a forensic examination, which found six videos related to his offences. In the course of investigation, another iPhone containing four films of men urinating, masturbating or engaging in various sexual acts was seized from Kwan too. All the videos were certified obscene by the Media Development Authority.
DPP Sruthi said that further investigation revealed that Kwan felt aroused when looking at his victims’ private parts. He would replay the videos that he recorded and view them a few times before deleting them.
The prosecution pushed for six weeks’ jail. DPP Sruthi said that Kwan “intruded the privacy of men he filmed”, and captured “not just one, but five subjects over a span of 57 seconds in one video”.
In his mitigation, Kwan’s lawyer, Javern Sim, told the court that Kwan has a good character. Calling for only a fine to be imposed on his client, Sim added that Kwan comes from a family that is not well-to-do and he has been taking care of them.
Sim said that there are references and testimonials from teachers and colleagues that speak of his good character. “There are no premeditation involved; (the offences) were committed on the spur of the moment. He is a first time offender and he has taken steps to rehabilitate. He signed up for counselling sessions.” Sim added.
However, DPP Sruthi replied that it is not the first occasion that Kwan has gone to a public toilet to film. While Sim has no previous conviction, he is not a first-time offender, DPP Sruthi said.
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