SINGAPORE: A man used a modified umbrella with a camera hidden in its handle to record women changing at retail outlets.
Ang Yu Sheng, 29, was nabbed after an alert customer spotted the suspicious device and alerted the staff before banging on Ang’s door.
He was sentenced to 15 weeks’ jail on Wednesday (Nov 1) after pleading guilty to two charges of voyeurism, with a third charge taken into consideration.
The court heard that Ang bought a camera that was hidden in an umbrella handle from an online store.
He attached the handle to an extendable selfie stick and used it to surreptitiously record people changing.
He would do so by hanging the handle of the purported umbrella on a partition between his cubicle and his target’s cubicle.
It would seem like he was merely hanging an umbrella on the partition.
On Apr 14 this year, he went to the Cotton On store at Paya Lebar Quarter. He hung the “umbrella” on the partition separating his cubicle and the adjacent cubicle, capturing a clear view of his targeted cubicle.
A female victim then entered the cubicle to try on some clothes. The hidden camera captured her face and her trying on some jeans.
Two days later on Apr 16, Ang returned to the outlet and targeted another victim, hanging his “umbrella” on the partition in the changing room.
The victim was captured trying on pants, shorts and a dress, exposing her underwear and bare chest.
At one point, Ang retrieved the “umbrella” and adjusted the camera before placing it back to resume the recording.
Later that day, Ang went to a Uniqlo outlet at City Square Mall and similarly put his “umbrella” on the partition of the changing room.
A 17-year-old girl was in the cubicle next to him, and Ang was testing to see if the device could be hung successfully when he heard loud banging on his cubicle door.
A patron of Uniqlo had seen the “umbrella” and felt suspicious. The patron contacted Uniqlo staff to help detain Ang and knocked on the teenager’s door to alert her.
Ang was arrested that same day. He admitted having two SD cards to store the recordings and said he would watch his previous voyeuristic clips.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Tin Shu Min sought three-and-a-half months’ jail. Pointing to Ang’s mitigation, Ms Tin said it would be “disingenuous” to suggest that just because he had not watched the latest recordings that he had not invaded the victims’ privacy.
She said there was premeditation in the use of a concealed camera. While the defence had said no steps were taken to conceal the act, the prosecutor said the device was by nature already a concealed camera.
For each count of voyeurism, Ang could have been jailed for up to two years, fined, caned, or given any combination of these punishments.