A staff member of the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) repeatedly abused the trust placed in him when he molested patients and insulted his colleagues' modesty at his workplace. He even recorded videos of himself molesting his victims. The 36-year-old Singaporean also took upskirt videos, including at Canberra MRT station.

He is no longer working at IMH and his details cannot be revealed owing to a gag order to protect the victims' identities.

He was sentenced yesterday to four years, nine months and a week's jail with 10 strokes of the cane after pleading guilty to four counts of insulting a woman's modesty. He also admitted to two counts each of molestation and voyeurism. Thirty-four other charges for similar offences were considered during sentencing.

He was at work on Sept 6 last year when he saw a 25-year-old female patient alone in a room, restrained in a hospital bed. He molested the woman and recorded a video of himself committing the offence.

The court heard that he committed similar acts against a 29-year-old female patient on Nov 21 last year. He also targeted his colleagues and recorded videos of them while they were changing inside cubicles late last year.

He also recorded an upskirt video of a colleague while she was performing her rounds in a ward last December, the court heard.

On separate occasions in February this year, the man also used his mobile phone to record videos of two female patients while they were showering.

His offences came to light on March 2 this year. A 26-year-old woman was going up an escalator at Canberra MRT station at around 7.40am that day when she felt something touching her calf.

She turned around and saw the man standing behind her with a phone in his left hand. The woman lodged a police report the same morning and officers arrested him at IMH two days later.

They seized two mobile phones from him and the incriminating videos were found on the devices following a forensic investigation.

In a statement, IMH said it dismissed the man on March 11. "IMH takes a serious view of the incident and staff conduct, and had fully cooperated with the police in their investigations," its spokesman said. "We had also reached out to the affected staff and patients, addressed their concerns, and provided support to them."

It added: "We have reminded all staff to adhere to the hospital's code of conduct. We also further tightened our protocol for staff working in mixed-gender wards."