Man gets jail for trying to take videos of funeral guests in toilet

SINGAPORE: Friends and family had gathered to pay respects to a patriarch at his wake, but instead became prey to a man who had planted a mobile phone in the toilet, hoping to capture clips of women relieving themselves.

For one charge of attempting to intrude on the privacy of several women, 23-year-old Chua Jia Cheng was sentenced on Friday (Jan 31) to two weeks' jail.

The court heard that Chua was at the funeral service, which was held in a private residence, on Dec 24, 2018. His relation to the deceased was not revealed in court documents.

At about 6pm, he set his phone to recording mode and placed it under a basin cupboard at a guest toilet at the home.

He aimed the camera lens in the direction of the toilet bowl.

The granddaughter of the deceased and a domestic helper found the phone two hours later at about 8pm.

The granddaughter stopped the recording and passed the phone to her 44-year-old uncle, who had hosted the funeral service at his home.

Chua approached the man to get his phone back and denied placing it in the toilet. He claimed that he had left his phone charging and that someone else could have taken it and placed it in the toilet.

The host returned the phone to Chua, who unlocked the device and deleted the video.

Three days later, the host lodged a police report.

Chua's phone and MacBook Pro were seized from him during investigations, but no incriminating photos or footage were recovered from the devices.

The prosecution said it might file an appeal.

For attempting to insult a woman's modesty, Chua could have been jailed for up to a year, a fine, or both.