John Iau
The time of the straits
May 25, 2022

A man who installed a pinhole camera in a bathroom to record tenants he shared an apartment with has been sentenced to 12 weeks in jail.

On Wednesday May 25, Shazrul Hafeez Sabri Chong, 28, was found guilty in a district court of one count of indecent exposure of a woman and another of voyeurism.

Four other similar charges were considered for his sentencing.

The victims and the location of the apartment cannot be named due to a gag order to protect their identity.

The court heard that the Malaysians sublet the rooms in the apartment to the women.

He planted the pinhole in the bathroom in 2019.

On September 12, 2020, while one of the women was using the restroom, she noticed the camera on the floor. Later, she saw the contents of the storage card in the camera and saw footage of Shazrul Hafeez adjusting the camera.

She filed a complaint with the police.

During investigations, Shazrul Hafeez admitted to buying the camera on Lazada and placing it on the bathroom window.

He said the camera would record footage for three hours before the battery ran out.

Recordings of a different woman in various states of undress in 2019 were later found on her electronic devices.

She was also a tenant and he said he kept the tapes for his personal enjoyment.

Assistant Attorney General Lydia Goh noted that Shazrul Hafeez abused the trust of the women as they shared the household.

“This offense would have continued if (the first victim) had not discovered the pinhole,” she added.

Shazrul Hafeez’s lawyer, Kalaithasan Karuppaya, told the court that his client had since taken advice to prevent himself from committing a similar crime.

For voyeurism, offenders can be imprisoned for up to two years, fined, caned, or any combination of these penalties.

For insulting a woman’s modesty, an offender could be jailed for up to a year, fined, or both.