Over a span of more than two years, on nearly a hundred occasions, an individual discreetly used a hidden camera cleverly disguised as a smoke detector inside a toilet to surreptitiously record at least five women, including some of his own friends.
Darren Yeo Wei Hong, aged 34, committed these offenses between 2013 and 2015, and proceeded to share certain video recordings with acquaintances who were likely to recognize the victims involved.
Why is your client smiling
However, shortly before Yeo received a one-year prison sentence for his actions, an incident occurred that raised concerns for Senior District Judge Bala Reddy.
The judge, noting Yeo’s smile, posed a question to Yeo’s defense attorney: “Why is your client smiling?” To which his lawyer Shashi Nathan said that he was nervous, and Yeo then stopped smiling in the docks.
Yeo had pleaded guilty to eleven charges, including multiple counts of violating a woman’s modesty.
These offenses came to light when an individual stumbled upon some of the videos on Yeo’s Instagram account and promptly notified the police in April 2019.
To safeguard the identities of the victims, a gag order has been imposed regarding the location where the offenses took place.
More than 20 victims showed up
On the day of the sentencing, more than twenty individuals, including some of Yeo’s victims, attended the State Courts to witness justice being served.
Most of them were attired in black. While approximately ten individuals secured seats within the gallery, the others had to wait outside as the courtroom could not accommodate everyone.
A hushed silence fell as Yeo arrived with his wife. The couple shared an embrace before he took his place in the dock.
Yeo continued to smile while standing in the dock, prompting Judge Reddy to address his behavior.
In response, Yeo’s defense lawyer, Shashi Nathan, explained that his client was feeling nervous, and Yeo promptly ceased smiling.
Hid a camera inside women’s toilet
Deputy Public Prosecutor Vincent Ong informed the court that Yeo had purchased a camera, concealed it above a shower stall in a women’s restroom, and clandestinely recorded videos of his victims.
Yeo retrieved the video clips, saved them onto a memory card, and downloaded them onto his laptop.
Given his familiarity with some of the victims, Yeo labeled the videos under their respective names.
He created two Instagram accounts to distribute videos of the victims while they were showering.
Yeo also utilized his mobile phone to record these videos, subsequently sharing them electronically. Eventually, he was apprehended in 2019, and his hard disk drive contained no less than 690 explicit films.
The Deputy Public Prosecutor mentioned that Yeo had downloaded these videos from the internet.
Stole women’s bras
Separately, between 2010 and 2012, Yeo intruded upon several women’s bags in a communal area of the building to steal their bras.
He proceeded to take photographs of himself wearing the undergarments before returning them to the bags.
During the sentencing hearing, Deputy Public Prosecutor Ong urged the court to impose a prison term ranging from one year to fifteen months, emphasizing Yeo’s high level of culpability and premeditated nature of his offenses.
Asked for forgiveness
Yeo was represented by Mr. Nathan and Ms. Laura Yeo, who appealed for their client to receive a prison term of between 8½ months and 11 months.
Mr. Nathan expressed Yeo’s remorse and his desire to seek forgiveness from his victims.
Judge Reddy acknowledged the psychiatric evaluations indicating that Yeo suffers from paraphilic and voyeuristic disorders, which contributed to his offenses.
Nonetheless, the judge emphasized the gravity of Yeo’s offenses and the significant harm they caused to the victims.
He stated, “The videos captured sensitive and intimate areas of the victims’ bodies, resulting in a flagrant intrusion upon their privacy and inflicting distress and emotional harm.”
“Furthermore,” he continued, “the accused exacerbated his crimes by
