A man who followed a teenager and her boyfriend to a toilet at a unit in Holland Village and peeked at them during a sex act was fined S$6,500 by a court on Tuesday (May 18).

Jotham Lee Jing, 37, pleaded guilty to one count of intentionally observing the victim doing a private act without her consent, with a second charge considered in sentencing.

The court heard that Lee was at Holland Village at about 11pm on Aug 28 last year. 

At about 12.50am on Aug 29, 2020, he was sitting across the road from a hawker centre there when he saw the 18-year-old victim and her boyfriend entering a women's toilet at Block 10 Lorong Mambong.

He decided to follow them, as he wanted to peek at what they were doing, court documents said.

Lee entered the washroom after the victim and her boyfriend entered one of the cubicles and locked the cubicle door. Lee went into the neighbouring cubicle and squatted down with one knee on the floor before lowering his head.

He peeked into the victim's cubicle.

"At that point, the victim was performing a sexual act under circumstances in which she had a reasonable expectation of privacy," said the prosecutor.

The victim noticed Lee's handphone with its camera facing her. She went out of her cubicle and knocked on Lee's cubicle door.

Lee hid in the cubicle, but eventually opened the door and tried to escape. The victim grabbed him by the back of his shirt, and she and her boyfriend asked to check Lee's phone.

Lee initially refused but eventually passed them his phone. They did not find any pictures or videos of themselves, but the victim asked Lee to reformat his phone and he did so.

The victim's boyfriend called the police, asking them to "come fast" as they were trying to detain a man in the women's toilet.

The prosecutor called for a fine of S$6,000 to S$7,000. There was a lack of evidence that a recording device was used, and so this was not used as an aggravating factor.