SINGAPORE: A student with the National University of Singapore (NUS) gained access to a hostel using his sister’s key card and placed spy cameras disguised as smoke detectors in women’s toilets.
He was caught while checking on a spy cam and using the bathroom after a female student spotted his phone, which had been left on a ledge facing the toilet door for monitoring purposes.
A total of 23 video recordings of five female victims showering were retrieved from his MacBook after he was arrested.
Ng Yong Kuan, now 27, pleaded guilty on Tuesday (Nov 14) to one charge each of criminal trespass and possessing intimate recordings likely to cause humiliation to those depicted in the clips.
Another two charges will be considered in sentencing.
The court heard that Ng’s sister was also a student at NUS and had stayed in a hostel for NUS students for about two years. The hostel is accessible only to residents with key cards.
Ng began staying in his sister’s hostel room as there were renovations underway at his house. He would use his sister’s key card to gain access to the building.
THE SPY CAMS
In May 2019 and February 2020, Ng bought two motion-activated spy cams disguised as smoke detectors for about S$200 each.
He had chanced upon the devices on Google and purchased them to look at naked women.
In October 2019, Ng entered the women’s toilet in the hostel at about 2am to 3am. He used tape to fix a spy cam on the ceiling of the toilet.
The camera captured female victims showering in the toilet cubicle, and Ng removed the camera a week later, transferring the captured images and footage to his laptop for viewing or saving.
In February 2020, Ng placed a spy camera in another women’s toilet in the same building. He retrieved it a week later to watch the footage.
He also placed spy cams in toilets on two other occasions.
In the wee hours of Mar 7, 2020, Ng placed another device in a women’s toilet in the building – his fifth occasion doing so.
He returned to the toilet at about 5am that day to check on the device and to use the bathroom.
While Ng was in the toilet, a 21-year-old female NUS student entered the washroom and found that the main door granting access to the cubicles was locked.
She saw a handphone on a ledge facing the door. Ng had set up the phone to face the entrance of the washroom earlier, as he wanted to be alerted if someone approached.
The female student went to tell a male student what she had seen, and the pair returned to the washroom and tried to open the door.
When they could not, they sought help from campus security.
A security officer unlocked the main toilet door for the pair, and the trio entered the washroom.
All the cubicles inside were unlocked, except the one nearest the exit, which Ng was occupying.
The security officer knocked on Ng’s cubicle and asked whoever was inside to come out, but Ng did not respond.
The security officer then used a key to unlock the cubicle door, but Ng locked the door again from inside the cubicle.
After some time, the security officer managed to open the cubicle door and found Ng inside with a tote bag.
She brought Ng to a lounge room while one of her colleagues called the police, who arrested Ng.
His laptop was seized and found to contain 23 recordings of five female victims showering.
The defence sought a report assessing Ng’s suitability for mandatory treatment, which the prosecution objected to.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Selene Yap sought four to six months’ jail for Ng.
“This is not a case involving an offender whose faculties were so impaired by his psychiatric condition that rehabilitation ought to take centre-stage and displace the principle of deterrence,” said Ms Yap.
She said Ng’s offences were carefully premeditated and carefully considered. He selected toilets on female-only floors and entered them to install the “nefariously disguised spy cameras”, said Ms Yap.
His practised modus operandi of installing and removing the devices undetected spoke to the goal-directed nature of his pursuits, she said.
The judge called for a mandatory treatment order suitability report and adjourned sentencing to December.
CNA has contacted NUS for more information on Ng’s status with the school.