A domestic helper in Singapore has been jailed for six months after she allowed her boyfriend to view a 92-year-old man naked during a video call.
The incident happened while she was changing the man’s soiled diaper.
According to The Straits Times (ST), the elderly man under her charge suffers from a brain condition affecting his mobility, and also has signs of cognitive impairment.
Court documents revealed that the 44-year-old Indonesian placed her mobile phone on top of a cupboard about a metre away from the victim, angling it towards his exposed body.
The helper lived in the flat with the elderly man, his wife — who has dementia — and another domestic worker.
On 27 July 2024, she answered a video call from her boyfriend while tending to the man.
During the call, which lasted at least five minutes, she pointed to the victim’s naked body and smiled.
The man’s family later checked the home’s CCTV footage and saw what she did.
However, the court heard that they did not confront her as she spoke in an abrasive manner.
They instead brought her directly to the employment agency and alerted the police.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Phoebe Tan told the court that the offence showed a high degree of “callousness and insensitivity”.
She added that while the call was not recorded, observing the victim through a video call was almost like a video recording.
“While there was no premeditation here… there was no regard for the impact of her actions on the victim and his family,” she said.
The prosecutor sought a sentence of six to eight months’ jail.
The helper, who was not represented by a lawyer, appeared in court via video link from remand.
She wept as she pleaded for leniency, telling the judge through a translator that she is a single mother of two sons and the family’s sole breadwinner.
She ultimately received six months’ imprisonment.
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The court noted that harsher penalties applied because the offence was committed against a vulnerable victim — defined in law as someone with a disability unable to protect themselves from abuse.
The helper could have faced up to two years’ jail, a fine, or both for the voyeurism offence.
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