14 DAY TRIAL // In the vast history of mankind, there have been lots of weird reasons for a person to be arrested. In the more recent "history of mankind using cell phones" there might have also been curious circumstances that got someone deprived of their liberty after improperly using a handset. It was one of these circumstances that a 19-year old Singaporean mobile user found himself in, not long ago.
The Straits Times is reporting that the youngster, named Samuel Ong, used his mobile phone to film a woman while she was in a toilet from the Changi Airport in Singapore. The 29-year old woman was probably on a business trip (since she's a saleswoman) and needed to use the bathroom. Ong followed her and, slipping his camera phone under the toilet door, he took some film shots of her.
The whole thing was caught on tape by the airport security and, since the woman also issued a complaint against the teenager, he was called before the Community Court of Singapore and accused of privacy violation.
Arguing that the young Ong, who had been known as a praiseworthy student, regretted his deed, the boy's lawyer asked the court for clemency. The defendant pleaded guilty and, in the end, he got out with 60 hours of community work and 12 months on probation. Moreover, since Ong has been diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, he also has to carry on a psychiatric treatment.
But the hardest part for Ong is probably the fact that he was forbidden to use a cell phone with an integrated camera for a whole year.
Singapore, the 4.6 million people city-state from South Asia, has a 129% mobile penetration rate, hence everyone owns at least one cell phone. Moreover, most of the handsets currently sold on the Singaporean market do have photo/video cameras - which, generally speaking, must not be used to spy on women. Or on anyone else, for that matter. Unless you want to be arrested, of course.