A 24-year-old National University of Singapore (NUS) student has been arrested for criminal trespass and suspected voyeurism after he was caught by campus security inside a female toilet at a residential college.
Preliminary investigations by the police revealed that the man had allegedly entered the female toilet to install a hidden camera disguised as a smoke detector.
Police also found another similar device inside another female toilet on the same floor.
The student has been suspended with immediate effect and is barred from entering all campus premises, NUS said in a statement to the media.
A circular, which was sent out to student residents at the College of Alice and Peter Tan (Capt), said the male "trespasser" did not stay there.
He had allegedly installed the devices on the 12th storey of the residential college, an all-girls level. The police have since removed both devices and investigations are ongoing.
Capt staff members are reaching out to affected students to offer support and assistance, said the university.
It added a thorough inspection of all female toilets on the campus is ongoing and no similar devices have been found so far.
The circular also stressed that the accused had been let into the college by a resident.
A Capt resident who declined to be named told The New Paper: "These residences are supposed to be a safe space for their community, and I want my friends to be able to feel safe in what is supposed to be a home."
WORRIED
The student added that several female residents are now concerned about being alone in the hall and feel unsafe.
A first-year resident told TNP: "(Residents) are worried because something like this is happening in a toilet."
"In order to enter (the building), people need to tap a security card. This layer of security is now compromised."
All areas can be accessed once in the building, said the student.
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In the circular, the Capt management stressed that "non-residents should not be staying overnight in Capt" as they will be "considered trespassers".
"Disciplinary action will be taken against residents who flout the housing rules," it added.
A spokesman for security services company i-Secure told TNP that the devices are common and easy to purchase.
He said that for such devices, data can be recorded in the physical memory card and retrieved manually or online via Wi-Fi.
Mr Patrick Lim, director of group strategy at Ademco Security Group, said: "Anyone who can operate a computer probably can set up and install one."
He added that such devices can be under $50.
Just last year, the issue of sexual misconduct in NUS was highlighted after Ms Monica Baey, 23, an NUS student, posted on Instagram in April that she was filmed showering at Eusoff Hall.
NUS has since tightened its penalties for such crimes.
It said: "The university takes a very serious view of this matter. Disciplinary action will be taken against any student found to have breached the university's rules and regulations."
This article was first published in The New Paper. Permission required for reproduction.
