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Sean Lee Yang, a 27-year-old Singaporean man, was sentenced to six months' jail for installing a spy camera in the toilet of Hillview Rise's Anytime Fitness gym outlet.

According to court documents seen by Mothership, Lee had just graduated from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and was unemployed at the time of the offences.

Wanted to film men urinating

Around August 2020, Lee bought a spy camera disguised as a clothing hook from shopping app Lazada.

The spy camera had an in-built battery and contained an SD-card to save the recorded videos.

Lee intended to use the device to view men urinating as he had a fetish for such videos, court documents stated.

Planted the camera under the hand dryer

Lee started to experiment with the camera by installing it in the male toilet of the gym on a few occasions without being caught.

He went to the gym at different times of the day about two or three times a week.

While changing into his gym attire, he would plant the camera under the hand dryer in the male toilet, facing the toilet bowl.

After his gym session, Lee would retrieve the camera and bring it home.

Would only keep videos of men urinating

At home, he would view the videos captured on his laptop.

Court documents stated that Lee discarded the videos which did not capture men urinating.

He would only keep the videos of men urinating, and viewed them for his own pleasure.

Camera found by gym cleaner

On the night of Aug. 10, 2020, a gym cleaner discovered Lee's camera.

Lee had planted the device moments earlier by pasting it with a double-sided tape below the hand dryer.

The cleaner, who entered the male toilet to wash it, discovered a dark-coloured hook lodged under the hand dryer.

The hook, which was about seven centimetres long, was attached to the wall and was facing the toilet bowl.

According to court documents, the cleaner had seen the same hook there a week before, also facing the same direction.

Thus, he became suspicious. He removed it from the wall and found a memory card slot with an SD-card and a USB port in the hook.

Upon closer inspection, he noticed that there was a camera in the top hole of the hook, facing the direction of the toilet bowl.

Camera was left in the staff office

The cleaner subsequently handed the device over to a staff member at the gym.

While exercising, Lee noticed a staff member holding onto his camera.

He then saw the staff member leaving the device in a drawer in the staff office.

As it was a 24-hour gym, Lee decided to wait around for a few hours for the coast to be clear.

Retrieved the camera and discarded it

At about 2:24am on Aug. 11, the staff member went to the toilet, and the office was left empty.

Lee immediately entered the office to retrieve his camera, before leaving the gym minutes later.

As he was scared the camera and the recorded videos could be used against him as evidence in court, Lee disposed the camera and the SD-card in the rubbish chute of his residence.

At about 12pm on Aug. 11, the area manager of Anytime Fitness found the spy cam missing from the drawer.

He then went through the CCTV footage and discovered that Lee had taken the said device out of the drawer in the office.

He subsequently lodged a police report.

According to court documents, the device and the incriminating videos were not found or recovered.

Lee had pleaded guilty to one charge of voyeurism, and one charge of destroying evidence.

Defence argued that he was a first-time offender

The defence argued that Lee was a first-time offender and that he regretted his actions, as reported by The Straits Times.

But the prosecution countered this argument by saying that Lee's action was not a one-off incident as he had committed the same offence multiple times for about two weeks.

Was allegedly sexually abused and diagnosed with mental conditions

According to Yahoo, Lee was allegedly sexually abused in Thailand by his teacher when he was in Primary 3.

Court documents revealed that Lee was diagnosed with dysthymia with panic and PTSD symptoms, voyeuristic behaviour, and dysthymia with anxiety symptoms.

But the prosecution argued that the mental condition of voyeurism was not causally linked nor substantially contributed to Lee's offences, and it was his sexual urges that led to him break the law.

The district judge said, as reported by Today, that Lee's past experience did not excuse his behaviour.

The judge also ruled that probation or a mandatory treatment order were inappropriate as deterrence was the primary sentencing consideration for Lee, Yahoo reported.

Intends to appeal

Lee is currently out on bail and intends to appeal against the jail sentence, according to Today.

For committing an act of voyeurism, he could have been jailed for up to two years, fined, caned, or given any combination of the three punishments.

For destroying court evidence, he could have been jailed for up to two years, fined, or both.

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