Poly Student Jailed For Taking Video Of Woman Showering; Wants ‘Chance’ To Further Studies

Yes, once again, we hear of such news.

It’s as if the whole NUS fiasco with Monica Baey and her perpetrator never happened.

Do people not learn from others’ mistakes?

This time it’s a 24-year-old poly student, Edmond Chong, who took a video of his grandmother’s tenant, a 40-year-old Malaysian lady while she was showering.

The incident took place on 14 May at 8.30pm, just a month after the fiasco.

Apparently, Chong stayed at his grandmother’s house on Mondays and Tuesdays as it was much closer to Temasek Polytechnic, his school.

What Happened

On the day of the incident, his grandmother was not at home because she went out for a doctor’s appointment. This meant that only Chong and the lady who rented a room at his grandmother’s place was at home.

She was taking a shower in the kitchen washroom when Chong suddenly had this urge to film her.

Lol, what?

According to Deputy Public Prosecutor Samuel Lim, Chong was struggling with his financial situation and worried about his relationship with his girlfriend because they were going through some problems then.

And for some reason, he thought that filming someone else would make his problems go away.

The toilet door in the kitchen washroom was not extended all the way to the ceiling, which meant that someone could hover a phone above it and easily take a video of whoever was inside.

And that’s exactly what Chong did. He turned on the camera function on his phone and held it over the door, filming his victim fully undressed and showering.

You know how sometimes you just get this gut feeling that someone or something is watching you? And for some reason, you’re just compelled to look in a certain direction because that’s where you think you’re being watched from?

Chong’s victim felt that five minutes later and looked up.

Her sixth sense was right. 

She immediately realised what was going on and used the showerhead to spray water on the phone.

It was at this moment, Chong knew, he f*cked up.

The victim stopped showering and got dressed before returning to her room to process whatever just happened. She calmed down and reported this incident to her work supervisors and the police, all while Chong was outside her room knocking on her door and begging her not to report him.

When the police arrived, they confiscated his (wet) phone, his laptop, and his laptop charger.

Court Hearing

The prosecutor asked for at least eight weeks’ jail for Chong, citing that despite Chong not saving the video, he knew the victim because she was his grandmother’s tenant, thus making this a highly intrusive offence.

Chong was unrepresented and reportedly spoke softly. He was even asked to speak up by the court interpreter.

He said, “I know I did something wrong. I only wish to have a chance because I finally have the chance to get into poly to further my studies and I don’t want to miss that opportunity.”

The question is, What’s his GPA?

Even though District Judge Adam Nakhoda agreed with some of the prosecutor’s submissions, he felt that some factors that were brought up from a similar case were much worse than the things Chong did, so he eventually sentenced Chong to seven weeks’ jail.

Chong’s phone was forfeited but his laptop and laptop charger will both be returned to him.

Chong could have been jailed for up to a year and fined for the intrusion of a woman’s privacy to insult her modesty.