A 23-year-old man has been sentenced to 20 months in prison for multiple charges of voyeurism and for distributing intimate images of his ex-girlfriend without her consent.
The man, a former student at the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM), committed these offences during his relationship with the victim from 2020 to 2022, according to Channel News Asia.
The court heard that the man first recorded his girlfriend without her knowledge on February 10, 2021, while she was asleep. While she was sleeping, he lifted her shirt and recorded two videos of himself touching her chest.
In one particularly alarming episode, he instructed the victim to wear an eye mask during sex and used the opportunity to film her without her consent. When she attempted to remove the eye mask, he prevented her from doing so.
On several occasions, the man recorded his girlfriend in compromising situations, including while she showered and changed in her hostel, using his phone to film through a gap between the toilet door and the ceiling.
The final incident occurred on July 16, 2021, when he filmed himself touching her chest while she was sleeping on the sofa; however, she awoke to find his phone’s camera aimed at her. When she confronted him about the filming, he denied it and quickly put his phone away, leading her to reluctantly accept his explanation and drop the issue.
The victim was unaware of the recordings until after their breakup in 2022. Following their separation, the man harassed her through social media, even going so far as to threaten to share the intimate images he had taken, which he had kept hidden from her.
THREATENED TO LEAK
The couple ended their relationship in 2022 for reasons not connected to the offences. However, between July and August 2023, the man persistently messaged the woman on Instagram, requesting to see her chest.
Despite the victim blocking him on all social media platforms and via email, he continued to find ways to contact her by creating new accounts. When she chose to ignore his advances, he resorted to threatening to share intimate photos of her with others.
The situation escalated in January when the man reached out to the victim’s brother on Instagram, asking for “sexy photos” of the brother’s girlfriend. When the brother denied having any, the man expressed disbelief and sent two photos of the victim—one featuring her bare chest and another showing her face.
After the brother continued to ignore him, the man sent an additional photo of the victim in a bra and proposed that the brother add him on Telegram to view nude images of his sister, emphasizing the app’s ability to send disappearing images.
Unbeknownst to the man, the brother had already informed the victim about their conversation, leading her to request further information regarding the nude images he claimed to possess.
The man then sent the brother two disappearing images of the victim via Telegram, which were screenshots from videos showing her in intimate situations, including having sex and showering.
The victim decided to file a police report that same day.
The following day, while serving National Service, the man was arrested, and additional intimate videos of the victim were found in his cloud storage.
In her victim impact statement, the woman expressed feeling deeply traumatized upon discovering that she had been filmed without her consent during their relationship.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Ariel Tan noted that the victim’s trauma stemmed from her fear of potential exposure of her nude photographs and videos, significantly affecting her life and career. Additionally, she now uses a hidden camera detector light to inspect new rooms out of paranoia about being recorded again and often finds herself in tears when recalling her ex-boyfriend’s actions.
The man was evaluated at the Institute of Mental Health and diagnosed with voyeuristic disorder; however, this was determined not to be a contributing factor to his offenses. Ms. Tan emphasized that the IMH report indicated the disorder did not hinder the man’s capacity to exercise self-control or comprehend the nature and wrongfulness of his actions. She requested a prison sentence of 22 to 25 months, arguing that the man’s behavior demonstrated a high level of premeditation and depravity, labeling him as “a habitual voyeur.”
The man engaged in repeated instances of recording videos of his girlfriend in circumstances that allowed him to avoid detection. According to Ms. Tan, these actions “cannot simply be chalked up to a moment of youthful folly” but were instead “carefully calculated acts.” Although he was 19 at the time of the voyeurism offenses, he was already 22 when he distributed the intimate images, which indicated an escalation in his criminal behavior, as argued by the prosecutor.
Defense attorney Thomas Tham urged the court to consider probation for his client, pointing out his young age during the voyeurism offenses. He stated that the man initially wanted to view the lady because they had a good relationship at the beginning. However, Tham noted that their relationship deteriorated two years later, leading to the subsequent issues.
Deputy Principal District Judge Luke Tan remarked that the voyeurism occurred while they were still in a relationship, which facilitated the man’s proximity to the victim and allowed him to commit the offenses. He highlighted that the man had betrayed the trust his girlfriend had in him by recording intimate videos for his own sexual gratification.
Furthermore, when he later distributed the compromising images, it constituted an act of humiliation, especially as he was aware he was sending them to the victim’s own brother.
Judge Tan pointed out that regardless of the man’s age at the time of the offenses, the victim was even younger, and he noted her vulnerability due to her age and trust in her boyfriend.
The significant harm described in her impact statement, combined with the serious and repeated nature of the offenses, led Judge Tan to conclude that deterrence, rather than rehabilitation, should be the primary focus in sentencing, rendering probation unsuitable for the offender.
Image via google for illustration
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