24 year old Nicholas Kwang Zhen Xing was sentenced to 30 weeks of imprisonment and fined $900 for taking videos of men in public toilets and also his neighbour who was not dressed and thereafter sharing them on a Google Drive by accident.
For his doings, he was slapped with charges which he pleaded guilty to including 10 counts of public nuisance and making lewd films with another 28 taken into consideration during his sentencing.
Details of his crime
He had taken most of the videos in public toilets in Sentosa and Bishan Swimming Complex and he was only caught as he had accidentally shared them onto Google Drive instead of a folder meant for himself.
He began his filming spree in Nov 2018 at urinals and showers in public toilet with his target being men.
These places include Bishan Swimming Complex, Sentosa, Plaza Singapura and Ang Mo Kio Hub.
He would put his phone under his armpit and record the person urinating at the urinal beside him.
He would also hide beside occupied showers to film the men bathing through gaps or over the cubicle walls.
He also began to film his neighbour while he was changing.
The videos which he had recorded were done with the victims all being unaware and their genitals could be seen in some of the videos.
One of his clips was almost a full five minutes in duration.
Got caught
23 Oct 2020 was the day when someone lodged a Police report because the videos which Kwang had taken were found in a Google Drive.
Kwang had apparently taken the videos to pleasure himself in his private moments but had accidentally put them in a shared folder.
All in all, 37 or more videos were taken from 2018 January to 2020 October.
Cried in court
The judge had rejected the request from Kwang’s defense for a suitability report for a community sentencing for culprits who are suffering from mental illnesses which led to Kwang crying while in the stands.
The DPP then asked for 34 weeks jail and a $900 fine as he referenced a previous case while noting that Kwang’s mental illness and crimes did not match up.
Kwang’s defense had also use the fact that he is suffering from mental illnesses and how he sought treatment for them before he got caught as mitigation factors to argue his case but they were rejected by the judge as an Institute of Mental Health (IMH) report showed that his mental illnesses were not contributing factors to his crimes.
The judge added that even though he seek treatment, the fact that he still continued keeping the videos for pleasuring himself showed that he intended to continue his crimes.
Kwang will begin his sentences on 23 Feb as time was given to him to settle his affairs.
Image source: Unsplash, Google Maps
