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Manager jailed for entering female toilet, taking photos

This article is more than 12 months old

A business development manager who had trespassed into a female toilet to take photos of victims was sentenced to 12 weeks' jail yesterday.

Lee Chee Hoong, 41, pleaded guilty to one charge each of criminal trespass and attempting to insult modesty and three counts of insulting the modesty of a woman.

Five others were taken into consideration for sentencing.

Investigations showed that on May 17 last year, a 15-year-old Chinese national entered the female toilet at Mountbatten Centre and went into a cubicle.

Lee, whose office was nearby, entered the toilet and squatted in front of the teen's cubicle while holding his iPhone aimed through the gap between the floor and the door of the cubicle.

A 28-year-old teacher happened to walk past the toilet and noticed that the main door was ajar. She shouted when she saw Lee squatting down outside the cubicle.

Lee then left for the nearby male toilet. He was detained, but police did not find any compromising photos of the teen on his mobile phone.

He said he experienced a thrill when he entered a female toilet.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Amanda Chong said investigations showed that some time between late January and late April last year, Lee entered the same toilet and squatted down outside one of the cubicles.

He insulted the modesty of an unknown woman by taking at least seven photos of her undressed as she was using the toilet. The photos of this woman were recovered from among the deleted items on his phone.

Lee took at least two photos of another female during the same period.

Lee's lawyer Peter Ong said the father of one is the sole breadwinner, and he promised to go on with his treatment after his release.

Mr Ong said his client had been seeing a psychiatrist since 2008 for depression and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). He stopped treatment in 2012 as he intended to start a family.

But an Institute of Mental Health psychiatrist said Lee had neither depression nor OCD but paraphilic disorder - intense sexual fantasies that recur.

The maximum penalty for criminal trespass is three months' jail and a $1,500 fine, and for insulting the modesty of a woman, one year's jail and a fine. - THE STRAITS TIMES

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