Travelling to Johor Bahru (JB) for cheap food and shopping has quickly become a favourite pastime among Singaporeans. And this Singaporean lady, Ms Chen, was no different.
According to Stomp, Ms Chen and her family visits JB every week for movies and shopping. However, their recent trip there turned out unexpectedly eventful, not exactly in a pleasant way.
On Monday (30 Dec), Stomp reports that Ms Chen and her family travelled to JB on Saturday (21 Dec) intending to catch the new Ip Man 4 and do some shopping.
The family then proceeded to a nearby shopping mall and bought Ip Man 4 movie tickets scheduled for 6.15pm. And just like any of us, Ms Chen and her family decided to use the toilet before entering the theatre.
However, Ms Chen’s excitement for the movie was short-lived when she noticed someone filming her in the female toilet located on the 7th floor of the cinema.
Upon entering the toilet, Ms Chen noticed that 3 out of 4 cubicles were occupied. So she resorted to using the last one left.
While doing her business, she then noticed a hand holding a black Samsung handphone reaching out from the left side under her cubicle.
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That was when it sunk in that someone was filming her.
In an interview with Shin Min Daily News, Ms Chen said (translated),
I got a big shock and quickly put on my pants. I told myself that I had to remain calm and not make a sound.
She then quietly opened her cubicle door and exited the cubicle safely. And upon exiting the cubicle, she noticed a pair of sisters also in the toilet, hence, she decided to notify them of the situation.
She then told them to ensure the peeping tom stays in the toilet while she get help from outside.
As soon as Ms Chen stepped out of the toilet, she started screaming “Help! Somebody is taking pictures in the toilet!”.
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About 10 people from the crowd then rushed forward to assist the situation. Of the 10, a handful of them were cinema staffs.
Once the crowd entered the toilet, they started banging on the cubicle door urging the peeping tom to reveal himself. That went on for a good 2 minutes before the he finally budged.
It was when he exited the cubicle that Ms Chen realised he’s an employee of the cinema. And worse still, he’s just a teenage boy.
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However, the peeping tom already deleted all the photos and videos before coming out of the cubicle. So he claims that he entered the female toilet by accident.
He has since been suspended from his duties at the cinema and is assisting in police investigations.
Because of this incident, not only did Ms Chen have to make a trip to the police station for a statement, her intended movie date with the family even went to dust.
She also only managed to return to Singapore at 4.30am the next day.
Having experience such a traumatic incident, Ms Chen told Shin Min Daily,
I hope that by sharing my personal experience, Singaporean women will be more aware and pay extra attention to their surroundings when visiting the toilet in a foreign place.
Indeed, may this serve as a lesson for us ladies to be more alert and aware of our surroundings while using the toilet. Be it in Singapore or overseas, never take your safety for granted.
Feature images adapted from Trip Advisor and Lianhe Zaobao.
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