SINGAPORE — Prosecutors are objecting to a request by a 22-year-old man to leave the country to continue studying at a top British university as they believe that he poses a “clear flight risk”. The man is accused of filming at least 11 female victims without their permission in places such as toilets. 

In submissions to the State Courts on Wednesday (Jan 8), the prosecutors said that he came from a family of substantial means and could live comfortably overseas if he absconded.

Some of the videos he allegedly filmed are circulating online, and some include both the faces and private parts of the alleged victims, they said. One of the alleged victims was 15 years old.

The accused man, a Singaporean, faces 19 charges of insulting the modesty of the female victims and another charge of possessing an obscene film.

The man has claimed trial on all charges. He cannot be named due to a court order to protect the victims' identities. The order similarly does not allow for his university's name to be disclosed as it could lead to him being identified.

He initially appeared in court on Oct 2 last year to face two of the charges. At a hearing on Jan 3, 18 new charges were brought against him.

At the Oct 2 hearing, the man was granted permission to leave Singapore to continue his studies in Britain.

On Wednesday, he applied to leave Singapore to resume a second term at his university.

Deputy Public Prosecutors Foo Shi Hao and Tan Zhi Hao objected to this request because he was facing “serious and substantiated allegations against him”.

‘LITTLE MOTIVATION TO RETURN’

In a document setting out their grounds for objection, the prosecutors stated that the man was aware of the serious offences he faces and that these carry a high likelihood of him spending time in jail should he be convicted.

They added that he was also from a “family of substantial means”.

“It bears emphasis that the accused has thus far shown to be able to afford the fees and funding for his three-year undergraduate education in history,” the prosecutors wrote.

“(This) would require estimated funding of approximately £111,270 (S$200,000), which is by no means an insignificant sum.

“Given the above, the accused is able to live comfortably overseas. In the circumstances, there is little motivation for the accused to return if he is allowed to leave the jurisdiction.” 

HE APPEARED IN TWO VIDEOS

In the document, it was stated that of the 20 offending videos in the present case, 11 victims were identified.

The man knew these victims and 16 of the videos were taken in his house after they accepted his invitation to his home.

The latest charge sheets stated that most of the incidents happened at a condominium apartment along Bukit Timah Road on various dates in 2018.

During this period, the man allegedly recorded women in various states — relieving themselves, taking a shower and changing.

“Many of these victims had their modesty insulted and trust abused after they were lured by the accused to his home and filmed using cameras, which the accused had secretly placed in his toilet,” the prosecutors said. “These videos have been found on the accused’s devices and he appears in two such videos.”

Aside from the videos taken at the condominium, the new charge sheets also stated that he had recorded an upskirt video of a woman on the evening of July 26 in 2018 as she rode an escalator towards the exit of King Albert Park MRT Station.

At the Oct 2 hearing, it was reported that the first alleged offence took place on Dec 2 in 2015, when he was aged 18.

He had allegedly placed a video-recording device in the toilet of a room at Orchard Hotel and filmed a woman as she showered.

For his second charge, he allegedly filmed a woman relieving herself in a toilet at a private home on the evening of Dec 23 in 2016.

Media reports on this case reported before that the man had begun his studies at the British university on Oct 7 in 2018 and was due to start his second year on Oct 13 last year — slightly over two weeks after his case was heard in court.

District Judge Adam Nakhoda had approved his application then for the man to return to his university to continue with his studies and set bail at S$20,000.

In relation to the man’s latest request, the prosecutors said that given the available evidence, they submit that there are strong reasonable grounds for believing that the man is “guilty of the offences he has been charged with”.

“Coupled with the strong likelihood that the custodial threshold is crossed in the present case, we submit that the threat of imminent incarceration further incentivises the accused to abscond,” they said.

Judge Nakhoda said that he would give his decision on the man’s request to leave Singapore on Friday.