SINGAPORE: A compliance officer with an investment management company recorded videos of men in the shower at Anytime Fitness gym because he felt ugly and wanted to know what other men looked like.
Von Ling Wei Hao, 36, was sentenced to 20 weeks’ jail on Friday (Dec 16).
Ling pleaded guilty in November to eight charges including voyeurism and creating obscene films, with another five charges taken into consideration.
The judge called for a mandatory suitability report for him, but he was found unsuitable for the order. Citing the report, the prosecutor said Ling does not suffer from any diagnosable condition.
Ling was caught in January 2020, when he went with a colleague to exercise at Anytime Fitness in International Plaza.
After about half an hour, he went to shower in the men’s changing room and noticed that someone else was showering in a cubicle.
Ling showered in the next cubicle, but decided to film the other person that was showering. He held his phone above the partition and filmed the man showering.
However, the victim noticed the phone and realised he was being filmed. He felt uncomfortable, stopped showering and knocked on Ling’s cubicle door.
Ling did not respond, so the victim went to inform an employee of the gym and returned to the changing room with a few staff members.
When they knocked on the door, Ling, who was in a panic, said he was changing and tried to stall for time. Eventually, he came out and denied the allegations.
However, he later passed his phone to an employee of the gym, who called the police. When the police confronted him, he admitted to filming the victim.
After Ling was arrested, he admitted that the incident was not his first time recording other men in the shower. He said he had done so for more than a year and would watch the videos afterwards.
He claimed that he did so “out of a sense of inferiority”, as he thought he looked ugly and was therefore curious about what other men’s bodies looked like.
Ling further explained that he did so because he thought his body looked terrible and he wanted to look like other people.
His phone was found to contain multiple videos of men showering at Anytime Fitness.
VOYEURISM CONTINUES TO BE ON UPWARD TREND
The prosecutor sought 20 weeks’ jail for Ling, saying voyeurism continues to be on the upward trend.
He said the offences captured the victims fully in the nude and went on for more than a year.
Ling’s lawyer, Mr Kalaithasan Karuppaya, asked for leniency for his client. He said Ling is remorseful and does not wish to come back to court.
He added Ling has “attempted self-help for his stress” and has “gone into fellowship programmes” and is involved in charity work.
“In summary, he wishes to put this episode behind and start afresh. He’s extremely worried for his career,” said the lawyer.
Ling requested to address the judge directly and said: “I’m very sorry and remorseful for what I’ve done. To all the victims and everyone involved. I promise to be a good standing citizen in the future. Please kindly give me a chance to contribute to society.”
District Judge Wong Li Tein said the offences were hard to detect and in fact did go undetected for some time until he was apprehended due to the vigilance of the victim in the January 2020 incident.
Ling did not suffer from any psychological impairment, and was a functioning individual able to work and visit the gym, she said.
However, she took into account his plea of guilt and the fact that he was a first offender.
This content was originally published here.
