'Your actions are especially sinister': Judge scolds plumber who broke into woman's home to peep at her

SINGAPORE - A plumber who trespassed into a woman's condominium unit to peep at her has been sentenced to three weeks' jail.

Cambodian national Vong Sarain, 35, pleaded guilty on Friday (July 14) to an offence of housebreaking.

Before handing down the sentence, District Judge Sharmila Sripathy-Shanaz said Vong had caused significant alarm to the victim.

Said the judge: "Your actions are especially sinister since you had entered the home with the intention of committing an offence of voyeurism."

Court documents state that the victim is a 44-year-old woman who lives in a condominium in the East Coast area.

On July 22, 2022, at around 6.45pm, Vong had just completed a plumbing job at an 11th floor unit of the condominium and was waiting for his wife to pick him up.

Feeling bored, he went to the 12th floor and walked past the woman's unit.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Sarah Thaker said Vong heard what he perceived to be "porn sounds" and peeked through the window.

He saw a woman inside. Curious about what she was doing, he rang the doorbell.

"When nobody answered, the accused climbed through the open kitchen window of the unit, intending to see if the occupant was pleasuring herself," said DPP Thaker.

The woman saw Vong in the kitchen and shouted at him. He immediately climbed out the window and fled.

She then called the police saying someone had tried to break into her house.

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Vong was subsequently traced in investigations.

DPP Thaker said the accused trespassed a private home and caused the woman alarm. She called for him to be jailed for one to two weeks.

Vong's lawyer, Mr Loo Choon Hiaw, said the woman was not doing any act in particular at the time.

He said: "It was simply the accused's imagination getting the better of him."

Mr Loo said Vong has a wife and child here, and asked for him to be sentenced to probation as he wished to apply for Singapore citizenship.

District Judge Sharmila said the court does not consider if one's citizenship application would be affected to determine whether probation is suitable.

She said Vong was well above the age of 21 at the time of offending.

Noting that he did not demonstrate "an extremely strong propensity for reform", and that there were no exceptional circumstances in the case, she declined to call for a probation suitability report.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.