Maid jailed for filming naked elderly man in shower, uploading clips on TikTok and WhatsApp

SINGAPORE: A domestic helper in charge of caring for an elderly man who suffered from medical conditions, including very poor vision, filmed him on several occasions naked in the shower.

She then sent a clip, showing the man's private parts, to someone on WhatsApp, and posted another clip that did not expose his genitalia on TikTok.

The 33-year-old Indonesian maid, whose name was redacted from court documents, was sentenced to 17 months' jail on Thursday (Jan 27).

She pleaded guilty to four charges that include intentionally recording a person doing a private act without their consent, intentionally distributing an intimate recording without the victim's consent and intentionally recording a victim's genitals without the victim's consent.

Another nine charges were taken into consideration. There is a gag order in force preventing the publication of anything that could identify the victim or the location of the offences.

The court heard that the maid began working for the 74-year-old victim's family on Feb 1, 2020. She was tasked with caring for the victim, assisting him with daily tasks like showering and brushing his teeth, and with household chores.

The victim was diagnosed with multiple brain abscesses and related brain condition. Further examinations at the Singapore National Eye Centre revealed that he has very poor vision in both eyes.

The prognosis was deemed poor, with very little hope of recovery, and the victim needs long-term follow-ups for glaucoma control.

The victim's son lodged a police report in January last year, saying the maid uploaded a video of her showering the victim on TikTok.

The maid's phone was seized, and videos found in her phone showed her showering the victim.

VIDEOS FOUND IN MAID'S PHONE OF THE VICTIM NAKED IN SHOWER

Sometime in February 2020, the victim was getting ready for a shower when the maid activated the video-recording function on her phone, capturing the man's face and naked body.

The victim was seated naked on the toilet bowl and the video clip showed the maid brushing the victim's teeth and showering him, with his private parts fully visible.

The 9min 5sec-long clip showed the maid staring into the camera and smiling.

Around Feb 14, 2020, she sent this video to an unknown person through WhatsApp.

Around Jan 1, 2021, the maid showered the victim in the bathroom again. She activated the video-recording function on the TikTok application on her phone before showering the victim and shaving his face.

She placed the phone in a position such that the camera captured the victim seated on the toilet bowl, with his face and naked body visible.

The victim's genitals were not visible in this recording, which lasted for about a minute and also showed the maid smiling into the camera.

The maid later uploaded this video to TikTok, which was publicly accessible by anyone with the link. She later claimed that she took it down within an hour after receiving negative comments criticising her behaviour.

The video was re-uploaded on Facebook by an unknown person, with the victim blurred out from the footage.

Two days later, the victim's son saw the Facebook post and recognised his father and his maid. As of Jun 15, 2021, the video had more than 14,000 views on the Facebook page.

Apart from these two videos, the maid also recorded five other videos of herself showering the victim. The clips ranged from 3min 49sec to 8min and 54sec in length, and the victim's genitals were visible in three of the five clips.

The maid sent four of these five clips to unknown parties on WhatsApp.

The prosecutor asked for at least 18 months' jail, saying that the victim was a vulnerable man, with "very poor vision in both eyes".

He was fully naked in all the videos and clearly recognisable, evident from the fact that his son made a police report after seeing a video clip.

The prosecutor highlighted other aggravating factors including that the offences were done in the victim's own home, that a TikTok video went viral and that it is unknown if the video that was sent via WhatsApp has been circulated to other recipients.

The maid also abused her position of trust as the victim's live-in carer, said the prosecutor. She acknowledged "the lack of malice on the accused's part and her genuine remorse as evident from the early plea of guilt", but said the fact remains that the victim had been "severely humiliated and embarrassed by the accused".

In mitigation, the remanded domestic helper pleaded for leniency, saying she was her family's breadwinner and wanted to return home.