SINGAPORE — While helping out at a funeral service, Chua Jia Cheng attempted to film female mourners using the guest toilet.

When his mobile phone was discovered under the basin cupboard of the toilet, he initially claimed that he had merely been charging it. After he got the device back, he deleted the video recording.

The 23-year-old Singaporean pleaded guilty to insulting the modesty of women, and was sentenced to two weeks’ jail on Friday (Jan 31).

However, he will not serve his sentence immediately as Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Kevin Ho, who sought at least six weeks’ jail, asked for a two-week stay to consider whether to file an appeal.

District Judge Eddy Tham ordered Chua to surrender himself at the State Courts on Feb 14 to begin his prison term.

The court heard that Chua was helping a 44-year-old man, whose identity cannot be revealed due to a court gag order, with the funeral service at the man's residence on Dec 24, 2018.

The man’s relative had recently passed away, but court documents did not state how Chua was related to them, if at all.

At about 6pm, Chua set his mobile phone to recording mode and placed it under the basin cupboard of the guest toilet, with the rear camera facing the toilet bowl.

“It was within the accused’s contemplation that the female friends and family of the (44-year-old man) would frequent the toilet,” DPP Ho told the court.

The man’s niece and domestic helper found the phone two hours later. The younger woman then stopped the recording and passed it to her uncle.

When Chua asked for his mobile phone back, he denied placing it in the toilet, claiming that he had been charging it and that someone else could potentially have placed it there.

After the older man returned the phone to him, he unlocked it and deleted the video. The other man then checked it to confirm that there were no incriminating videos left on it.

About a week later, the authorities seized Chua’s mobile phone and his MacBook Pro laptop. No incriminating photographs or footage were recovered from the devices.

While Chua’s lawyer John Tan argued in mitigation that Chua had committed the offences on the spur of the moment, DPP Ho said there was “some degree of planning and premeditation” and that he had concealed his phone.

“(The offences) were committed at a funeral wake, where victims would be vulnerable and unsuspecting of such offences,” the prosecutor added.

Mr Tan sought a fine of S$1,000 or a short detention of two weeks. The latter is a punishment which would not result in a criminal record but offenders will serve time behind bars.

Mr Tan argued that Chua had not caused any harm as there was no evidence that he had captured any footage.

“He was performing his duties at the wake when they decided to take a break… as he was urinating (in the guest toilet), I was instructed that on the spur of the moment, he had the idea to place his phone under the basin cupboard as he was curious to find out what would be captured,” the lawyer told the court.

Mr Tan also referred to Chua’s “clean disciplinary record” in his National Service, saying he was a man of good character and his offence was “entirely out of his character”.

District Judge Tham, however, rejected the lawyer’s proposal, saying that he would impose a jail term to “send a message of deterrence to all like-minded people with such inclinations”.

For insulting women’s modesty, Chua could have been jailed up to a year, fined or both.