Doctor previously jailed for voyeurism gets 6 months’ suspension from medical practice

SINGAPORE – A family physician, previously convicted of filming his colleague while she was showering in their clinic, has been suspended from medical practice for six months.

On Aug 8, 2022, Dr Jeremy Mong Shaowei pleaded guilty to one charge of voyeurism.

He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to 13 weeks’ imprisonment. Another charge involving his possession of 56 obscene films was taken into consideration during sentencing.

In May, the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) brought Dr Mong before a disciplinary tribunal which found him guilty of misconduct, following his conviction for an offence implying a defect in character which made him unfit to practise medicine.

The tribunal censured and suspended him from practising from Oct 8 and for a period of six months till April 7, 2026, according to a notice published in the Government Gazette on Oct 27.

He had to submit a written undertaking to the SMC that he would not engage in the conduct again or any similar conduct, and to pay the costs and expenses of the proceedings, including the cost of SMC’s lawyers.

Dr Mong has been practising since 2010. When he committed the crime on March 23, 2021, he was employed as a doctor at the same clinic as the victim.

When she arrived at the clinic that day, she informed Dr Mong that she would be using the clinic toilet to change.

As she was showering in the clinic toilet, she noticed a shadow at the window above the toilet seat, and a smartphone held through the window gap from the alley outside the clinic, with the rear camera pointing towards her.

She shouted at the perpetrator, got dressed, and left the toilet.

Based on CCTV footage, she suspected Dr Mong was the perpetrator, and she notified her employer about the incident. Dr Mong was arrested two days later.

The police recovered from his smartphone two videos, one photo and five screenshots of the victim showering, which he had deleted.

Dr Mong’s lawyers at the disciplinary tribunal hearing sought leniency in the written mitigation plea to “allow Dr Mong to restart his life and career soon”.

In its written decision grounds published on SMC’s website on Nov 4, the tribunal agreed with SMC that Dr Mong had caused moderate harm – emotional and psychological harm to the victim, and harm due to undermining public trust and confidence in the medical profession.

The tribunal, chaired by Dr Vaswani Chelaram Moti Hassaram, believed Dr Mong’s act was premeditated, and noted that he had tried to cover up his actions and destroy the evidence.

It also found that there were no aggravating factors of note, but the lack of antecedents raised by Dr Mong’s lawyers was taken as a neutral factor by the tribunal, as “doctors are expected to uphold the highest standards of integrity and appropriate personal behaviour”.

The tribunal did not consider the fact Dr Mong was a recipient of the Covid-19 Resilience Medal and his positive testimonial to be relevant.

In addition, a settlement agreement Dr Mong had reached with the victim did not help him, given that the monetary compensation was made in return for the release, discharge and waiver of all claims and demands which she might have against him.