A 29-year-old Malaysian woman moved into an apartment in Singapore on Jan. 17, 2019.

Having access to her own room and a toilet for S$600 per month, with the company of her landlords — a married couple — seemed fine at first.

That was until she discovered the male landlord, 68-year-old Daniel Poon Lee, acting suspiciously.

She later discovered that he'd been secretly watching her shower through cameras hidden about the house.

Entered her room

According to court documents, from the time she moved in, Lee would use his key to enter her room when she was not home about once a month.

He would message her afterwards to tell her he'd helped her do chores like changing the lightbulb, cleaning the fan, and mopping the floor.

He even cooked for her occasionally.

These self-initiated visits unsettled the victim, who cannot be named due to a gag order.

But she initially dismissed it as acts of "kindness", telling herself that the accused might be bored spending the whole day at home.

Set up cameras

From April 2020 to January 2021, Lee installed eight pinhole cameras throughout the unit in areas like the toilet's water heater and the bedroom's air-conditioning duct.

These cameras recorded footage continuously and also allowed him to view live footage via an app.

He said he accessed the footage for sexual gratification. He admitted to watching the victim while she was undressing and using the toilet.

Investigations later revealed that he stored at least 49 of such images in his computer.

Victim grew suspicious

Leading up to her eventual discovery of her voyeuristic watcher, there were a few instances when the victim felt something was amiss.

Once, as she was headed to the toilet, she saw Lee perched on the sofa in the living room looking at his handphone.

A glance at the screen of revealed that he was watching a video of a woman in a room wearing a bright green t-shirt — just like the one she was currently wearing.

Lee quickly exited the app.

Another occasion saw Lee telling the victim not to turn off the power to the USB socket in her room.

As she trusted Lee, the victim eventually chalked it up to her overthinking things.

Discovery of cameras

Lee's actions came to light on Apr. 21 2021 at around 12pm, when the victim was picking up some snacks from her snack corner in her room.

A small hole in the wall under the air-conditioning duct caught her eye.

Thinking it was some sort of "insect hole", she used her pen to prod the hole.

This elicited a sound that sounded like it came from glass — and it was then that it dawned on her what the true nature of the hole could be.

She sent a video of the "insect hole" to her boyfriend and cousin, who informed her that it looked like a camera.

Following tips online, she shone a flashlight at the object and observed that it reflected a red light, confirming it to indeed be a camera.

She informed her boyfriend and cousin, who rushed down to the apartment and called the police.

Victim was shaken

Court documents noted that the victim's hand was "trembling" when she first learnt of her landlord's offence.

She was "very disappointed" that the accused, whom she had trusted, had done something like this to her.

When questioned by police, Lee confessed to having installed the cameras about a year ago.

He then showed the officers all eight locations where he'd hidden the cameras.

There is no evidence that the accused spread any of the victim’s videos and images.

The court took into account the fact that Lee was "an elderly first-time offender who cooperated with the authorities and pleaded guilty at a very early stage of proceedings".

"He also appears remorseful for what he did," said the prosecution.

As such, the prosecution requested for him to be sentenced to 10 to 12 months in jail.

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Top image via Celso A. Torres Pirron/Unsplash