Kota Kinabalu: An unemployed man was jailed for a month and fined RM2,500 or another month’s jail, for outraging the modesty of a woman by recording her in a toilet at Kota Kinabalu International Airport.
Md Sapri Abdul Rahim, 29, pleaded guilty before Magistrate Wan Farrah Farriza Wan Ghazali to insulting the dignity of a 32-year-old woman by using his mobile phone to film her without her knowledge while she was relieving herself in the women’s toilet on the airport’s second floor at 6.05am on Aug 17.
Sapri had initially claimed trial on Aug 25 to the charge under Section 509 of the Penal Code, which carries up to five years’ imprisonment, a fine, or both.
The court ordered him to serve his sentence from the date of conviction.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Akaash Singh told the court that while the woman was finishing in the cubicle, she saw a phone being pointed towards her from under the partition of the next cubicle.
She screamed, then went out to confront the intruder and repeatedly knocked on the door until a man emerged.
When questioned, he denied recording her and ran off.
Fearing the footage might be spread, the victim lodged a police report.
Sapri was later arrested at the airport police station, where officers seized a smartphone and a T-shirt from him.
Investigations confirmed Sapri had recorded the victim, with the video clip found in his phone and identified by the woman.
The act, the prosecution said, left her traumatised and humiliated.
In mitigation, the unrepresented Sapri asked for leniency, saying he was jobless, has two children and is remorseful.
He also apologised for his actions.
DPP Akaash, however, urged the court to impose a deterrent sentence, citing strong evidence, including the recorded video clip and stressing that Sapri had insulted the victim’s modesty and that public interest demanded a stern response.
