Man admits using spy camera to record daughter changing clothes in her bedroom
File photo of the State Courts in Singapore. (Photo: Calvin Oh)
SINGAPORE: A 43-year-old man planted a spy camera in his daughter's bedroom to record her getting undressed and changing into her school uniform.
During investigations, he denied the allegations and claimed the spy camera was to monitor the victim, then 13, studying in her bedroom.
The man pleaded guilty on Friday (Apr 1) to two charges of voyeurism. Another charge will be taken into consideration when he returns for sentencing next week.
The identities of the offender and the victim are protected by gag orders.
The court heard that the man bought a spy camera resembling a USB charger sometime before July 2019.
The device was able to transmit real-time footage to linked mobile phones in the vicinity, and allow the footage to be recorded on the phones.
Early in the morning on Jul 6, 2020, he decided to covertly record the victim in her bedroom. He knew that she would be in a state of undress as she needed to change into her school uniform to go to school.
The man planted the spy camera in a corner of the victim's bedroom. He ensured the transmitted video feed was stable and twice adjusted the direction of the spy camera, then left the room.
During these instances, the device recorded footage of the offender in which his face was clearly identifiable.
About 10 minutes after the offender left the room, the victim entered her bedroom, undressed and left to take a shower.
She returned from her shower and put on her school uniform, then left the room again.
The spy camera recorded footage of her without her knowledge throughout this process.
The man retrieved the spy camera from her bedroom shortly after, and transferred the footage to his laptop and mobile phone.
He repeated this the next morning, taking care to switch off the lights in the bedroom after planting the camera to minimise the chances of it being discovered.
The offences came to light when the man's 36-year-old wife made a police report on Aug 21, 2020.
She informed police that she had discovered videos of her daughter in various states of undress while using her husband's laptop on Aug 2 that year.
She reported finding about 155 such videos on the laptop, containing timestamps between July 2019 and Jul 8, 2020.
These included footage of the victim recorded with a camera positioned below the sink in the household's bathroom.
Despite the man claiming the videos were to record the victim studying in her room, no footage of her studying was discovered during investigations.
He could be jailed up to two years and fined or caned for each count of voyeurism.
