Clerk jailed for filming flatmates naked with GoPro
Defendant who fixed camera in washroom tells police he filmed women to please his desire
Dubai: A clerk lost his appeal and will be jailed for six months for fixing a GoPro camera to the ceiling of a washroom to film his women flatmates nude in the shower.
A Filipina secretary went in to the bathroom to shower when she saw a camera lens over her head in August 2018.
When she returned home from work in the afternoon, the secretary informed her countrywomen flatmates who managed to remove the GoPro camera from the ceiling.
The female flatmates then took out the memory card and connected it to a desktop where they watched footage of themselves nude in the shower.
As they confronted their 41-year-old countryman accused he admitted he had fixed the camera in the ceiling.
The Filipinas initially did not report the 41-year-old clerk to the police after he convinced them there were no more images.
However, the next day, when a flatmate reconnected the memory stick to her desktop, she discovered around 100 videos and images of her and her countrywomen naked in the shower.
Police apprehended the accused shortly after his flatmates had reported what happened.
In October, the Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the Filipino of violating the privacy his countrywomen and breaching their modesty by filming them nude using a GoPro.
The defendant appealed the primary judgement before the Dubai Appeal Court and sought to have a reduced punishment.
Presiding judge Eisa Al Sharif dismissed the culprit’s appeal and confirmed his 6-month jail sentence.
The accused, who pleaded not guilty, will be deported following the completion of his jail term.
One of the filmed Filipinas, 32, said her flatmate warned her about the discovery of a camera in the washroom.
“We took away the camera and checked the content of the memory card … we found out that we had all been filmed naked. We told the police ... the accused was summoned for questioning and he was apprehended. We discovered that he had been filming us since December 2017,” she testified.
A police corporal said that, during questioning, the defendant admitted that he had filmed his flatmates naked in the shower.
“When asked why he did so, he said he used to film them nude and watch the content to please his sexual desires,” said the corporal.
The appellate ruling remains subject to appeal before the Cassation Court.