Man jailed 6 weeks for filming male stranger using toilet at Lot One Shoppers’ Mall

SINGAPORE — When Muhammad Ath’ari Zulkifli was caught red-handed filming a man using the toilet at a Chua Chua Kang mall, he gave the victim a fake contact number so the authorities could not find him.

He was still nabbed later. During investigations, he also confessed to secretly recording videos of other men masturbating in mall toilets.

The 30-year-old Singaporean was sentenced to six weeks’ jail on Wednesday (Aug 17). He pleaded guilty to one count of voyeurism, with another charge taken into consideration for sentencing.

The court heard that Ath’ari was in a second-floor toilet at Lot One Shoppers’ Mall on Aug 11, 2021.

He then heard a 26-year-old man in the adjacent cubicle and decided to take a video recording of him.

He positioned his mobile phone over the divider between the two cubicles. The victim noticed the device and hurriedly got ready to leave the cubicle.

This prompted Ath’ari to retract his mobile phone and run out of the toilet.

The victim chased him and shouted for help. Ath’ari was then detained by some passersby at the ground floor of the mall, before a security officer escorted him and the victim to the security office.

There, the victim confronted Ath’ari who apologised and pleaded for another chance.

With Ath’ari’s consent, the other man looked through the gallery of Ath’ari’s mobile phone and asked him to delete all videos he had taken. Ath’ari complied.

The victim then asked for his contact number in case he decided to lodge a police report. Ath’ari gave him a fake one.

The victim made a police report after trying to call the number and realising it was not real.

During investigations, Ath’ari admitted that on an unknown number of occasions in the past, he had filmed male persons masturbating in the toilets of shopping malls without their consent.

He also claimed he would delete these videos on the same day after viewing them.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Lee Wei Liang sought eight to 10 weeks’ jail, which did not take into account the two weeks that Ath’ari was remanded for psychiatric observation.

His lawyer Sharifah Ally asked for four to five weeks’ jail instead, saying he did not show premeditation in comparison to other similar cases.

Atha’ri will begin serving his sentence on Aug 31 after asking for time to find someone to handle his jobs. He is self-employed, Ms Ally told the court.

For voyeurism, he could have been jailed for up to two years, fined, caned, or punished with any combination of the three.