NTU student convicted of filming female undergrad in campus toilet, could face further disciplinary action by university

SINGAPORE — Claiming to be "stressed and emotional", a Nanyang Technological University (NTU) student tailed a female student into a toilet at the university so that he could film a video of her undressing. 

When Zhou Zhiwen, 22, was caught in the act by the victim, he ran out of the toilet and deleted the video.

He then waited for the 20-year-old victim to come out of the toilet so that he could apologise to her. 

In a district court on Thursday (Sept 29), Zhou pleaded guilty to one charge of voyeurism.

Court documents did not indicate what course he is studying in NTU and which year he is in.

Zhou is currently out on bail and will return to court on Oct 31 for sentencing. 

For voyeurism, he could be jailed for up to two years, fined, caned, or given any combination of the three.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The court heard that at around 8.30am on Feb 5 last year, the victim had arrived at her class in the NTU campus, which was scheduled to begin half an hour later. 

About 15 minutes later, she entered one of the cubicles of a female toilet on the first floor. 

When Zhou, who was taking a break from his tutorial lesson, saw this, he decided to follow her into the toilet. 

Realising that she was in the locked cubicle, Zhou entered the adjacent stall and held out his mobile phone under the partition dividing the two cubicles, pointing the rear camera upwards. 

Court documents said the victim, who was not named due to a gag order, was in a state of partial undress when she noticed a shadow in the adjacent cubicle.

Upon looking down, she saw Zhou’s shoes on the other side of the partition, as well as his phone camera pointing towards her. 

Alarmed, the victim immediately shouted, causing Zhou to run out of the toilet.

The court heard that he then deleted the video and waited for her outside the toilet in order to apologise for what he had done.

But the victim remained traumatised by the criminal act, and quickly returned to class to inform her classmates and professor about what had happened.  

NTU's campus security was alerted and Zhou was detained. The police later arrested him. 

FEELING STRESSED AND EMOTIONAL 

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) R Arvindren told the court that Zhou admitted to recording the victim while she was inside the cubicle when he was being interviewed by the police. 

At the time, he claimed that he had done so as he was feeling very stressed and emotional. 

Zhou said that he would usually target Chinese women. He also admitted to filming different women secretly on several occasions.

On Thursday, the court further heard that an Institute of Mental Health report on May 20 found that Zhou suffered from early psychotic symptoms which may have contributed to his actions.

District Judge John Ng called for a mandatory treatment order suitability report in light of these findings.

Offenders who are given a mandatory treatment order will undergo treatment for their mental conditions in lieu of jail time. 

RESUMED STUDIES FOLLOWING SUSPENSION

Responding to TODAY's queries, an NTU spokesperson said that the university had extended support to those involved when the incident happened in Feb 2021.

"Zhou was placed on suspension for two semesters and was also barred from on-campus housing and leadership positions, among other sanctions for trespassing into a female toilet.

"He resumed his studies after serving his suspension," said the spokesperson.

Nevertheless, the university may reconvene a disciplinary board to review his candidature depending on the outcome of the judiciary proceedings, the spokesman also said.

"NTU has zero tolerance for all forms of harassment, including voyeurism," he added.

"Any student found guilty of such acts will be subject to disciplinary action, including suspension or expulsion from the university, depending on the nature and severity of the offence."