NUS student charged with filming two women showering in hostel toilet; suspended till 2022

SINGAPORE — A 23-year-old National University of Singapore (NUS) student was charged on Friday (June 5) with taking videos of women showering in a residential hall.

Jonathan Angga Dharmawan Jie faces four counts of insulting a woman’s modesty, one count of criminal trespass and another of possessing obscene films.

The Singaporean is accused of taking these videos in the wee hours of Aug 28 last year at the University Town (UTown) Residence North Tower hostel.

Court documents stated that over a four-hour period, he secretly took a total of four videos. 

One alleged victim was filmed at 12.23am and 12.25am that morning and another woman was said to have been filmed twice at the same toilet at 4.10am.

It is unclear if the women were fellow NUS students or how long Angga purportedly filmed them for but court documents stated that they were “short videos”. 

The women cannot be named due to court gag orders to protect their identities.

In response to TODAY’s queries, a university spokesperson said it had suspended Angga’s candidature from Oct 30 last year till May 7, 2022. 

He also cannot contact the two alleged victims and has been barred from all campus premises during the period of suspension.

According to an online newsletter from the university’s engineering science programme, dated August last year, Angga was a second-year student in the programme at the time of the incidents.

The spokesperson added: “After serving his suspension, he will need to be certified fit to return to campus by the University Health Centre before he can resume his studies. When he subsequently returns to campus after his suspension, he will be prohibited from entering or staying in all on-campus housing premises for the remaining period of his candidature.”

The university said it activated its NUS Victim Care Unit to give immediate care and support to the two women while it conducted internal investigations.

The internal disciplinary process, which involved a series of hearings and deliberations, took place between October last year and April this year, said the spokesperson.

Angga’s disciplinary sanctions will form part of his formal educational record at the university.

“NUS takes a strong stand against any form of sexual misconduct… the university is committed to making every effort to build and strengthen a culture of respect and consent on campus,” the spokesperson said.

Angga will return to court on June 26 and is out on bail of S$15,000.

If convicted of insulting a woman’s modesty, he could be jailed up to a year, fined or both for each charge.

His charges relate to alleged offences that took place before amendments to the Penal Code kicked in on Jan 1. 

Only women’s modesty could be insulted under Section 509 then but that has now been repealed.

Both men’s and women’s modesty can now be insulted under Section 377BA, which carries the same punishment — up to one year’s jail, a fine or both.

Voyeurism is also now a specific offence. 

Those convicted of secretly filming others from Jan 1 onwards can now face up to two years’ jail, a fine or both.

In March, an NUS student was arrested for allegedly trespassing in a women’s toilet at a residential hall and setting up hidden cameras disguised as smoke detectors there.

In May, the High Court overturned the probation sentence of an NUS mathematics student who pleaded guilty to molesting a woman on an MRT train. Terence Siow Kai Yuan was given two weeks’ jail instead.