A trainee teacher called Mitchell Low Tian Wei was jailed for four weeks on Friday after the court found him guilty for using his mobile phone to record student's obscene acts inside Nanyang Technological University (NTU) hostel toilet.
The 25-year-old accused, who was perusing a four-year Bachelor of Science (Education) degree in National Institute of Education (NIE). When he was in his third year at NTU, Mitchell used his phone over eight months to record videos of men while using a toilet.
During the court hearing, Mitchell pleaded guilty to five charges of making an obscene film.
Nicholas Lai, the Deputy Public Prosecutor told the court that when a 22-year-old NTU student was taking a shower in one of the cubicles at the NTU Hall of Residence on Oct 13, 2016, at around 1.10 am, he noticed a green colour mobile phone at the top of the cubicle.
The DPP also mentioned that the student shouted and came out of the cubicle after realising that someone was filming him. When the owner of the phone revealed as non-other than Mitchell after locked him up inside a cubicle all the photos got deleted, including the recent one.
Later police came and arrested the accused. According to reports, Mitchell had 14 obscene videos and 61 uncensored films of various men showering.
On the other hand, his lawyer Shashi Nathan claimed during mitigation that the accused was recognized by his lecturers as a good student and a person who had strong academic and social character.
District Judge Lorraine Ho also heard from Nathan that Mitchell may have his Teacher Training Agreement terminated because of the accusation and will have to pay $202,000 for his activities.
During sentencing, the judge considered two charges, including filming without having proper certificate. The accused, now suspended trainee teacher, could have to provide $40,000 and/or an imprisonment for up to two years on each charge under the Films Act.
A few days ago, there was a similar case happened when a 46-year-old former security guard called Ali V. P. Mohamed was found guilty on January 31, for possessing 801 obscene films by using hidden cameras for the purpose of online distribution.
While the motive is clear in the case of Ali, the reason behind taking nude videos of students during the shower by Mitchell is still not clear.
