Man recorded other men in public toilets with mobile phone hidden in armpit

SINGAPORE — A man filmed other men in a toilet by concealing his mobile phone under his armpit while standing beside them at urinals.

Nicholas Kwang Zhen Xing, 24, filmed at least 37 illicit videos of men engaged in private acts between 2018 and 2020 at male toilets in Sentosa, Bishan Swimming Pool, Ang Mo Kio Hub and Plaza Singapura.

He also took videos of a male neighbour changing in his home.

Kwang was jailed for 30 weeks and fined $900 on Wednesday (9 February), after he pleaded guilty to 10 out of 38 charges for voyeurism, making obscene films, and being a public nuisance. The remaining charges, which are of a similar nature, were considered for his sentencing.

Kwang’s offences came to light after a police report was lodged on 23 October 2020 stating that obscene videos had been found in a shared folder on Google Drive, according to the prosecution. He was one of the persons with access to the folder. Kwang had intended to transfer the videos to his own Google Drive, but had mistakenly uploaded them to the folder.

Court documents did not reveal who lodged the police report.

From January 2018, Kwang had been recording obscene videos of men using urinals of showers of public toilets with his handphone concealed under his armpit. He would leave the camera lens exposed and pointing towards the victim while recording.

If filming victims in cubicles, he would hide in the neighbouring cubicle to record them through gaps or over the top of cubicle walls. He also began taking videos of his male neighbour undressing around the same time.

On 9 January 2018, after midnight, he noticed his neighbour changing clothes. Kwang used his mobile phone to record the man for more than two minutes, capturing his genitals.

Kwang had recorded the videos for his own pleasure. He recorded at least 37 videos, of which at least 31 were obscene, between January 2018 and October 2020. The videos were from 30 seconds to more than four minutes long.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Yee Jia Rong sought at least 34 weeks’ jail and a fine $900 for Kwang, arguing that Kwang had taken steps to ensure his victims were unaware of his actions, which constituted a high degree of intrusion.

The sentence that the prosecution sought was commensurate with the length of Kwang’s criminal conduct, which spanned nearly three years, and would likely to have continued if Kwang had not been discovered after accidentally uploading some videos into a shared folder, said the DPP.

Kwang’s lawyer Sukdave Singh urged the court to call for a suitability report for mandatory treatment order (MTO) for Kwang. But the prosecutor objected as Kwang’s psychiatric conditions were not deemed to have contributed to his behaviour.

Singh said that his client had a long history of anxiety disorder from his primary school days. Kwang has showed the ability to reform as he had full parental support, and has shown the potential to do well in his academic results, stated the lawyer.

While the lawyer said that Kwang had sought voluntary treatment at the Institute of Mental Health before the offences came to light, these were for depression and anxiety. Kwang was only later diagnosed with voyeuristic disorder.

District Judge Lim Wen Juin noted that Kwang’s intention to upload the videos on his personal folder did not appear to be consistent with a desire to rehabilitate himself as he seemed to save the material for future consumption.

The judge found that Kwang’s depression and anxiety did not contribute significantly to the offences, and that treatment of these conditions would not reduce his likelihood of reoffending.

The existence of disorders also did not overcome the need for deterrence in sentencing Kwang, said the judge, who rejected the application to call for an MTO report.

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