When a woman discovered her husband had videos of her friends in bathrooms on his mobile phone, she reported him to the police.
Kevin Chin Thain Min, 35, was arrested on March 3 last year.
Yesterday, he was sentenced to 14 days’ short detention order – a community-based sentencing.
He had pleaded guilty to four counts of insulting modesty and one each of theft and house trespass. Another 12 charges were considered.
The court heard that the freelance motoring journalist had filmed two women he had developed a crush on.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Yanying said that sometime in June 2014, Chin stole the key to a friend’s home.
Between October and December 2014, he used the key to enter her home and installed the camera inside a small crack in the bathroom’s false ceiling. As a result, he was able to record videos of the woman in the shower and undressing.
Chin also developed a “crush” on another female friend and had planned secretly to film her in various states of undress or take upskirt videos of her when giving her a lift in his car.
Sometime in June 2014, he invited the second victim to his home and secretly filmed her using the toilet.
In another incident involving the second victim, the court heard that Chin was with her in a test car when he used a mobile phone to record a video of her undergarments.
Chin’s wife found videos and images of her female friends, including the first victim, when she was using his mobile phone in July 2015.
She later found that he had placed various spy cameras, some of which were hidden in everyday household items, and kept an assortment of women’s underwear.
She reported him to the police.
His lawyer Tan Hee Joek said the father of one, who is now not working, suffers from two types of paraphilic disorder – voyeuristic and fetishistic disorder, which a psychiatrist said caused him to commit the offences.
He said Chin is being treated and attending therapy and counselling. Chin’s wife, a legal counsel, has forgiven him.
This article by The Straits Times was published in The New Paper, a free newspaper published by Singapore Press Holdings.
