SINGAPORE - A construction worker was convicted on Friday (Jan 5) of offences arising from being a peeping Tom.

The court heard that a 21-year-old woman, a cabin crew member, arrived at Orchard Towers with her friends at 4.40am on March 26, 2017, when she decided to use the toilet on the third floor.

When she entered the toilet, she saw a person lying inside a cubicle with a blue jacket but could not make out the gender. She decided to go into the adjoining cubicle.

While she was relieving herself, Mathivanan Manikandan, 24, an Indian national, turned his head and peeped.

When the woman saw him, she shouted. Mathivanan got up and fled.

She quickly got dressed and ran after him.

The prosecuting officer, Assistant Superintendent Sulaiman Yusof, said a passer-by pointed to the victim the direction in which Mathivanan had fled.

The victim found him wearing the same blue jacket in the basement of the building. She approached police officers, who were on foot patrol, and told them what had happened. Mathivanan was arrested.

On Friday (Jan 5), the construction worker was sentenced to two weeks' jail for criminal trespass and four weeks' jail for insulting a woman's modesty. Both sentences will run concurrently.

A third charge of having eight obscene video files in his cellphone was taken into consideration during sentencing.

In mitigation, Mathivanan told District Judge Adam Nakhoda that he was having financial difficulties and had been working here for 2½ years. He also said he was drunk at the time.

He could have been jailed for up to three months and/or fined up to $1,500 for criminal trespass. The maximum penalty for insulting the modesty of a woman is one year's jail and a fine.