Man pleads guilty to filming teenage niece in the shower

SINGAPORE — In the space of three years from 2017, a 32-year-old man filmed his teenage niece showering at home, snapped an upskirt picture of her and took photos up her shorts when she was asleep. 

His offences came to light in 2019, when his niece’s school counsellor filed a police report against him. 

The man, a Myanmar national, pleaded guilty to one charge of insulting his niece's modesty by filming her in the shower. 

He cannot be named because of a court order to protect the identity of his niece, who is now about 20 years old.

Two other charges of insulting her modesty will be considered during sentencing, which has been adjourned.

The court heard that the man filmed his niece in the shower sometime in 2017. They were both living in the same home with his niece’s family. 

His niece, who was 16 then, had just reached home from school. 

After her shower, she saw the man’s mobile phone perched on a window ledge and noticed that it was recording her. 

She deleted the video immediately and threw the phone onto the floor before leaving the toilet.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Chong Ee Hsiun said: “She did not tell anyone what happened as she did not think that she would be believed.” 

After the incident, the victim became fearful of showering or sleeping at home, and was worried that her uncle would insult her modesty again, the prosecutor said.

Asking for at least 12 weeks’ jail, he argued that the intrusion into the victim’s privacy was grave. 

“The offence took place at her home and it was carried out by a family member, whom she was entitled to trust.”

Court documents showed that in 2018, the man took a photo up the dress of his niece and entered her bedroom in 2019 to take two photos up the leg openings of her shorts while she was sleeping.

For insulting a woman’s modesty, the man could be jailed for up to a year or fined, or given both penalties.