On Tuesday (30 Aug), 61-year-old Norman Leo Chee Wei Kiong pleaded guilty to taking obscene videos and photos of men in public places, including SAFRA locker rooms.
Chee was a director at the Housing Development Board (HDB) in 2017 but has since resigned, Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reports.
He admitted to four charges under the Films Act, as well as two others of committing a public nuisance.
Eight additional charges, including one for voyeurism, will be taken into consideration for sentencing, which will be on 9 Sep.
TODAY states that the prosecution sought two to three weeks’ jail and a fine of S$1,600 to S$2,000 for Chee.
On 28 Oct 2020, Chee tried to secretly record a video of a man he found attractive in a supermarket.
However, the man caught him and confronted Chee, who denied filming him. A commotion ensued, and a supermarket employee notified the authorities.
As they waited for the police, Chee agreed to delete the footage of the man.
While checking Chee’s photo gallery to ensure this, the man noticed that there were obscene videos of naked men. He decided to inform the police about this upon their arrival.
Police later seized Chee’s phone for forensic examination.
During the course of investigations, Chee admitted that he had a habit of taking videos and pictures of men he found attractive in public places like gyms and communal changing rooms.
This started over 10 years ago.
On 26 Apr 2012, Chee snapped two photos of a man in his underwear in a male locker room at a SAFRA clubhouse.
Similarly, on 12 Jan 2013, he took five photos of a man with his private parts exposed.
On 31 Dec 2018, he filmed a fully naked man for 25 seconds in the male locker room at SAFRA Mount Faber. Both the man’s face and private parts could be seen in the video.
In addition, Chee had also taken obscene videos of a man, known only as Billy, in his apartment.
CNA reports that he recorded Billy wiping himself with a towel on 22 Dec 2017. Another clip taken on 25 Sep 2019 shows Billy putting on his underwear. Both videos were over a minute long.
Court documents stated that Chee had taken the videos for his own personal gratification.
Forensic examinations also uncovered 146 more obscene videos of men engaged in sexual acts in Chee’s phone.
In court, the prosecution asked for two to three weeks’ jail and a fine of S$1,600 to S$2,000 for Chee.
He highlighted that Chee took the photos and videos without the victims’ knowledge.
Although there was no evidence of Chee circulating the clips, there was always the risk of this since they were stored digitally on Chee’s phone, which was connected to the Internet.
Refuting this, Chee’s lawyer sought no more than a week’s jail.
He claimed that his client was a “very honourable man”, pointing out that Chee had voluntarily resigned from his job even before he was convicted. This was apparently a “painful decision” for him after building his career for over 35 years.
The defence also pointed out that Chee was the primary caregiver for his elderly mother, who is battling ovarian cancer.
In response, the prosecutor countered that Chee had committed the offences in his own personal capacity, thus they had nothing to do with his work.
In other words, his resignation was a personal decision and did not qualify as a mitigating factor.
Chee’s hearing had been adjourned and he will be expected to be back in court for his sentencing on 9 Sep.
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Featured image by MS News.
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