One more Peeping Tom case at NTU, second incident to come to light in 4 days

Singapore—For the second time in the past four days, the story of a student under investigation for having filmed another student while in the shower at a residence hall at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has emerged.

Whereas earlier this week, it was reported that a 19-year-old male was caught taking photos of a male student in the shower, this time, a 22-year-old male was caught on closed-circuit television cameras while a 20-year-old female student was showering.

A police report was filed against the latest culprit on April 18, as the incident occurred on April 17 in NTU’s Tamarind Hall.

The 22-year-old male has even confirmed by the police as a Tamarind Hall resident.

Around 10 o’clock on the evening of April 17, the female student noticed a phone had been placed at the top her shower cubicle while she was showering. She quickly got dressed in order to confront whoever was holding the camera, but could not find him. She then told a friend and then reported the incident to NTU’s campus security force awhile later.

In a statement to The Straits Times, a representative from NTU said that on April 18, an officer from the university went with the woman in order to make a police report.

“The affected female student is receiving the full assistance and support from NTU’s pastoral care team which reached out to her immediately after the incident.

Our priority is to ensure her welfare and we are commencing our own investigations into the incident.”

On Thursday, April 27, it was reported that a male student had been spied upon while in the shower at a residence hall at NTU Hall 3.

Police are investigating the 19-year-old male for criminal trespass under Section 447 of the Penal Code, Chapter 224. The individual being questioned is not a resident of the hall. According to a representative from NTU, the man is not a student of the university, nor does he work there, The Straits Times (ST) reports.

The university’s representative added that students assisted with detaining the man while the police were called to the scene.

Police told ST that on 1:11 pm on April 21, Sunday, a 999 call came in requesting assistance. The person who called said that a man had taken pictures of another man in the shower at the residence hall.

The NTU representative emphasised that building a safe environment on campus is of utmost importance. “NTU believes in building a culture of mutual support where students are encouraged to watch out for one another.”

He also said that cameras are able to monitor the common areas within the residence halls and that security personnel on campus also perform regular checks on the halls.

These Peeping Tom incidents come on the heels of another recent case of an individual filmed while showering, which resulted in widespread criticism of how the National University of Singapore (NUS) handled the incident.

Last week, a 23-year-old communications student of NUS, Monica Baey, took to Instagram to share her story of having been filmed by a male student while showering at NUS’ Eusoff Hall in November 2018.

She wrote about the distress she had suffered, as well as expressed her dissatisfaction with how the case had been handled. She wrote, “I want some real change in NUS … I want real consequences for perpetrators that commit such acts.”

The man who had filmed her, Nicholas Lim, had been given a 12-month conditional warning by the police, which is common to first-time offenders. He was also suspended by NUS for one semester, banned from NUS campus residences and asked to apologize to Ms Baey via a letter.

Ms Baey’s Instagram story went viral, and many netizens seemed to agree that Mr Lim got off too lightly. Even Education Minister Ong Ye Kung weighed in on the matter and said that he asked NUS and other universities to review their disciplinary methods for such cases.

NUS, which has a “two strikes and you’re out” policy for cases of sexual misconduct, has said that it will review the policy, after having received much pushback from students of the university, as well as members of the public in general.

Read related: Police investigating man who allegedly took photos of male student in the shower of NTU residence hall