A 33-year old woman has been sentenced to a week's jail for filming videos of her fiancé at Police Cantonment Complex — a protected area under Singapore law — that he subsequently uploaded to TikTok.
She was accompanying him to the police station to report for his bail, and claimed she took the videos on his wishes so as not to anger him, CNA reported.
Siti Zulaika A Rahman pleaded guilty to one charge of taking a video in a protected area with her fiancé, Mohd Heirizal Kamarzaman, 41.
She was sentenced to a jail term of one week on Nov. 8, because she indicated that she could not pay the S$15,000 fine sought by the prosecution.
A second similar charge was taken into consideration.
Heirizal, her fiancé, faces corresponding charges for the same incident.
First incident
The court heard that the pair took these videos on two separate occasions earlier this year, CNA reported.
The first was on Jul. 13, when Siti accompanied Heirizal to report for bail at Central Police Division at Police Cantonment Complex.
When he was done, he texted Siti, and she used her phone to film him leaving the place.
The video showed him "swaggering" out of the door, while displaying a middle finger and a forearm tattoo, the prosecution noted.
Siti sent Heirizal the video, and he subsequently posted it on TikTok, accompanied with the song "I'm a Gangster".
The video received more than 380 likes and at least 125 shares.
Second incident
The second incident took place on Aug. 1.
Siti went along with him to Police Cantonment Complex again to report for bail.
This time, Heirizal filmed the counter desk with his phone while his bail was being processed.
He captured a female officer's face and the wall sign behind her, before handing the phone to Siti.
She filmed a second clip of him from the back while he performed exaggerated movements for the camera, the prosecution noted, as cited in the CNA report.
Heirizal combined both the Aug. 1 clips into a video which he also uploaded to TikTok.
The background song he used had a title with an expletive directed at the police.
This video was liked 13 times and shared eight times.
Unauthorised filming potentially undermines security: Prosecution
The prosecution asked for a fine of S$15,000 to S$20,000 for Siti, or one to two weeks' jail if she was not able to pay the fine, according to CNA.
This was on the basis that Police Cantonment Complex is a protected area under the Infrastructure Protection Act.
The prosecution further asserted that the Police Cantonment Complex is significant from a security perspective, since it houses the Criminal Investigation Department, and is also a recognisable icon of the Singapore Police Force (SPF).
The prosecution pointed out that the complex displayed signs to indicate that unauthorised filming is not allowed, and that the two accused would have seen these on their way in.
"Unauthorised filming undermines the message that the Police Cantonment Complex is a protected place, even if the videos themselves are unrelated to any attack or threat," the prosecution added.
By circulating the videos online, it might also mislead people into thinking that unauthorised filming is allowed and that security at such buildings is not enforced, the prosecution noted.
Didn't want to anger fiancé and risk being beaten up: Accused
In mitigation, Siti claimed that she did not want to take the videos, but did so out of fear of angering her fiancé, CNA reported.
She said that she has also reported a case of assault against him.
"I didn't want him to be angry with me so I just took the videos. I was just afraid that he would beat me up," she added.
Heirizal faces charges of hurting Siti with a heated hair straightener in a Tiong Bahru unit in June.
He was also charged for allegedly kicking and slapping her body on multiple occasions since December 2022.
He is scheduled to attend a pre-trial conference in December.
Top image from Singapore Police Force.