Ex-S’pore embassy staff called to Japanese court for voyeurism involving minor while in service
TOKYO: A counsellor at the Singapore Embassy in Japan, who admitted to secretly filming a boy at a public bath in Tokyo, among other acts of voyeurism, has been asked to appear in a Japanese court, Japanese media reported on May 2.

The 55-year-old man, who has not been named, has since left the foreign service.

He was caught using a smartphone to film an undressed male teenager in the men’s changing room of a public bath on Feb 27, Japanese daily Asahi Shimbun reported.

The incident was reported to the police by an employee of the bathhouse in Tokyo’s Minato ward, where the Singapore embassy is also located.

Investigators who searched the man’s phone found footage of the boy in the nude, as well as that of multiple male customers that appeared to have been taken in the bath’s communal changing room.

The man admitted to investigators that he had also been taking the photos surreptitiously at other public baths, with at least 700 images taken over a six-month period.

On Feb 27, the man introduced himself to police officers as a diplomat and refused to go to a police station, telling them he would answer questions at the bathhouse, where he admitted filming five times in the past.

He also refused to hand over his smartphone to the police, but deleted the photos of the boy he had taken that night at the request of the student’s parents. The man was not charged.

The male junior high school student was 13, reported Japanese national broadcaster NHK.

Japanese media has contacted the embassy for a response.

The man has since been requested to appear at a Japanese court by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, NHK reported, with the police considering charges against him for violating child pornography laws.

The police have evidence they will provide to prosecutors, according to Japanese media.

According to NHK, the police made the court request through Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as the man has immunity from arrest in Japan as a diplomat until he leaves the country.

The Straits Times has contacted Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment. - The Straits Times/ANN
Japan,Singapore,embassy,staff,voyeurism
TOKYO: A counsellor at the Singapore Embassy in Japan, who admitted to secretly filming a boy at a public bath in Tokyo, among other acts of voyeurism, has been asked to appear in a Japanese court, Japanese media reported on May 2.