Man caught using watch to record flatmate showering later found to possess child porn

SINGAPORE: A man who was caught using a watch to record his flatmate showering was later found to possess pornographic material, including child porn, during investigations.

Sun Yunjie, 26, was sentenced on Monday (Jan 16) to 16 weeks' jail. He pleaded guilty to one count each of voyeurism and possessing child abuse materials.

Another two charges were considered in sentencing.

The court heard that Sun, who is from China, lived in a flat in Singapore since 2017.

He shared the flat with the victim, a 28-year-old woman who occupied a bedroom with another female tenant.

In mid-2020, Sun bought a watch with a video-recording function from online marketplace Shopee. The watch had a hidden camera at the 6 o'clock area, and the data recorded by the watch could be transferred to a computer via a USB cable.

Sun admitted to investigators that he had watched porn and grown interested in porn where victims were secretly filmed.

He also wanted to try out spy cameras or to plant video-recording devices in toilets to secretly film people, and this was why he bought the watch.

In September 2020, Sun decided to test the watch. He turned it on and entered the victim's bedroom toilet.

He placed the watch near a pair of shoes on a shoe rack in the toilet and adjusted the watch so it could capture anyone who was showering there.

The victim returned home on Sep 25, 2020 and took a shower in the toilet. The watch recorded a video of her showering.

However, the victim noticed the watch while showering and felt suspicious. She asked her roommate whether she had placed the watch there, but was told that the watch did not belong to her.

Sun came by the victim's room thereafter and asked the victim for a pair of scissors. The victim asked Sun if he had lost a watch, but Sun denied this and left.

He grew worried and tried to retrieve the watch by going to the victim's bedroom three times to ask for the device. He lied that the watch belonged to his friend.

The victim suspected that something was amiss and sent a message to the police, saying she had found a watch with "32GB" in the toilet and was unsure if it had a hidden camera.

She also told the police that the "guy" staying next to her room had asked if she had a seen a watch that his friend lost.

The police went to the unit that same night and arrested Sun. They also seized the watch, along with other devices belonging to Sun.

The watch was examined and found to contain nine video files, two of them showing the victim using the toilet bowl and showering.

Obscene films were found in Sun's laptop and iPhone. Of these, 12 videos contained child pornography depicting children as young as four years old.

The prosecutor asked for 17 to 23 weeks' jail for Sun, while defence lawyer Ashwin Ganapathy of IRB Law asked for not more than 15 weeks' jail.

He said his client is sorry for his actions and understands he will have to face the music.

Sun was allowed to begin his jail term on Jan 31.