28 weeks’ jail for Singapore man who hid cameras in air freshener can so he could film colleagues in the bathroom

SINGAPORE: A man who hid a camera in an air freshener in the bathroom of the office where he worked was given a 28-week sentence on Wednesday (June 3).

Iskandar Kamaruddin, a 35-year-old Singaporean, entered a guilty plea to one count of criminal trespass and three counts of voyeurism, with four more counts of voyeurism considered for his sentencing.

Iskandar had bought two cameras in the hopes of recording his female colleagues relieving themselves, and then lied to the cleaner, saying he had been assigned to take care of the office toilets.

However, the cleaner found a camera he had placed in the bathroom that only the women in the company used, which led to Iskandar’s arrest.

A peeping Tom in the office

Last September, Iskandar, who worked as a medical technician for the company, devised a way to film his female co-workers while they used the bathroom. He bought a miniature camera as well as a pinhole camera that was hidden in an air freshener can, planning to put the first one in a smoke detector and the air freshener can on top of a sanitary waste bin.

He then told the cleaner that it was part of his job to repair and maintain the bathroom facilities, and in October, the cleaner came with him into the women’s toilet and watched him check its facilities.

While the cleaner could not see him, Iskandar put the air freshener can on the waste bin, pointed the lens of the camera to face the toilet bowl, and set it on a recording function when motion was detected. However, he was unable to install the other camera, since there was no smoke detector facing the same direction.

Several of his colleagues were recorded while using the toilet on Oct 22. On the same day, when the cleaner checked the air freshener, she found the camera inside it and turned it over to the workers at the office, who realised it was a hidden camera.

However, they could not access its memory card, and while the device was left unattended, Iskandar took the memory card out without his colleagues’ knowledge.

The building manager later called the police, which led to Iskandar’s arrest on Oct 30. When police searched his home, they found the memory card and the miniature camera that Iskandar had bought. 

CNA reported that Deputy Public Prosecutor Dillon Kok, who asked for a jail sentence of seven months, pointed out that Iskandar had “carefully selected an inconspicuous device that would not look out of place in the toilet and orchestrated his entry to the toilet with deceit.”

He added that Iskandar had tried to evade detection when he took away the memory card of the camera in the air freshener can after it had been found.

Individuals found guilty of voyeurism face a two-year jail sentence, a fine, caning, or a combination of the three. Those convicted of criminal trespass face a three-year jail sentence, a S$1,500 fine, or both.

In order to protect the victims’ identities, the company name, as well as the building where the office is located, remains undisclosed. /TISG

Read also: Monica Baey: Casual voyeurism is a “national emergency that was swept under the rug” for too long