A Myanmar national planted a pen with a pinhole camera in the toilet of a maisonette to film his female co-tenants showering.

Pyae Phyo Aung took nine videos of women showering over two days in October last year.

The clips were between 20 seconds and 10 minutes long.

The 32-year-old trainee ship officer was jailed for 20 weeks yesterday after admitting to three charges of intruding into the privacy of a woman.

Nine other charges, including perverting the course of justice and two under the Films Act, were considered during his sentencing.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Raja Mohan said a 31-year-old co-tenant was cleaning the toilet on Oct 27 last year when she found the pinhole camera pen, which had a green blinking light.

She suspected something was amiss and handed the pen to the main tenant.

That afternoon, Aung and the main tenant handed the pen over to the police.

He denied being the owner of the pen, but later admitted it, revealing that he had placed the device in the bathrooms of the maisonette with the intention of capturing the female tenants showering. He would then view the video clips on his laptop.

Aung's lawyer, Mr T.M. Sinnadurai, said his client had since passed the nine-month nautical course at the Singapore Polytechnic and hopes to become a marine captain.

He said Aung was truly remorseful for his actions and had enrolled himself for counselling sessions to deal with his emotional troubles.

Aung could have been jailed for up to one year and/or fined for each charge of insulting the modesty of a woman.