Manager planted hidden camera in Golden Village changing room to film colleagues, gets jail

SINGAPORE: A cinema service manager at a Golden Village outlet planted a hidden camera in a makeshift box he devised and filmed his colleagues over four months in a changing room for employees.

For six charges of insulting a woman's modesty, with another six charges taken into consideration for sentencing, 29-year-old Sholehudin Shariffuddin was jailed for 20 weeks on Monday (Feb 10).

The exact location of the outlet has not been revealed to protect the victims' identity.

The court heard that Sholehudin placed a phone inside a cardboard box, propping it up with many rolls of receipt paper and aligning it with a hole in the box.

He set up the box in late July 2018 to record videos of his colleagues changing, in particular targeting one cinema service crew member as he was attracted to her.

He captured videos of this 21-year-old woman changing on at least four occasions from late July 2018, capturing her in her underwear in most of the clips.

He also filmed two other cinema service crew members in their underwear.

EMPLOYEE SPOTS THE BOX

In December 2018, a male employee went to the changing room to put on his uniform when he saw a cardboard box placed on the ground that was not usually there.

He opened the box and found the phone in its set-up and informed a manager, who called the police.

Sholehudin later admitted that the phone was his, and that he intended to film his colleagues and subordinates, especially the woman he was physically attracted to.

He said he would go home to look through the videos and masturbate while watching them as "he had a strong sexual urge", said Deputy Public Prosecutor Gabriel Lim.

The victims' faces were captured in all of the videos through the reflection in the mirror.

The phone and the box were seized, with incriminating videos found in the device.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Gabriel Lim sought at least 20 weeks' jail, saying there was a high degree of premeditation in the use of the improvised box.

He knew the victims, said Mr Lim, and as their manager was in a more senior position to them.

The accused also replayed the videos, going home to masturbate to them in the safety of his own home, said Mr Lim.

Sholehudin, who was unrepresented, did not say anything in mitigation.

For each count of insulting a woman's modesty, Sholehudin could have been jailed for up to a year, fined, or both.

A spokesperson for Golden Village told CNA that Sholehudin was fired immediately after his misconduct was discovered.

"At GV, we take the conduct of all our staff seriously and we do not tolerate any acts of misconduct," she said. 

"The offender will be terminated immediately and will be reported to the relevant authorities.”