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Voyeur who took 116 photos of 29 men at public toilets jailed

Beng Bock Khim, 41, pleaded guilty to one charge of making an obscene film and 12 counts of public nuisance. (Photo: Getty)
Beng Bock Khim, 41, pleaded guilty to one charge of making an obscene film and 12 counts of public nuisance. (PHOTO: Getty Images)

SINGAPORE — A 19-year-old student who was relieving himself inside a toilet cubicle at Jurong Regional Library looked up to see a voyeur’s mobile phone pointed at him, a court heard.

The victim sought help from librarians and the perpetrator, Beng Bock Khim, was caught in the act looking down at another man in the toilet about an hour later.

Investigations revealed that the 41-year-old Singaporean had taken one video and 116 photos of 29 unsuspecting male public toilet users last year.

At the State Courts on Wednesday (22 January), Beng was jailed for two weeks and fined $12,000.

He pleaded guilty to one charge of making an obscene film and 12 counts of public nuisance. Another 16 counts of public nuisance were considered in sentencing.

Felt sudden urge to peep

On 17 August last year at the Jurong Regional Library, at about 2pm, Beng “felt the sudden urge to peep at males”, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Teo Yu Chou.

He went on to loiter around the male toilets at Jurong Regional Library in order to look out for possible victims,” the prosecutor added.

At the men’s toilet on the second floor, Beng saw a closed cubicle. Inside, a 19-year-old student was relieving himself.

Being went into an adjacent cubicle and used the camera function on his mobile phone to view the victim from above.

The victim looked up and saw the culprit’s phone pointed at him. Afterwards, the victim sought help from librarians on duty.

A 30-year-old librarian viewed CCTV footage and later saw the perpetrator via CCTV behaving suspiciously by entering and leaving different male toilets of the library multiple times.

At about 3.25pm, Beng was seen entering the men’s toilet on the second level and the librarian decided to investigate the matter.

Caught in the act

The librarian stood at the sink area of the toilet and used his mobile phone camera to observe two closed cubicles to avoid alerting Beng. He saw the culprit’s head emerging from the top of one cubicle and looking down into the other cubicle.

He then waited outside the toilet with another librarian, and they detained Beng and called the police later.

A week earlier, on 10 August, Beng had also recorded a video of an unknown man who was using a second-floor toilet at Jurong Point at about 7.10pm. The video, taken from under the victim’s cubicle for about five seconds, contained a close-up of his penis.

In its sentencing submissions, the prosecution noted that for male-on-male peeping or filming cases, the courts have imposed fines of $1,000 for each public nuisance charge.

DPP Teo sought a two-week jail term for the charge of making an obscene video, and a $12,000 fine in total for the 12 charges of public nuisance.

The maximum punishment for making an obscene film for a first-time offender is a fine of up to $40,000 and up to two years’ jail.

The maximum penalty for public nuisance for a first-time offender who causes annoyance to the public is up to three months’ jail and a fine of up to $2,000.

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