SC condemns man who took videos of naked nieces
SENDING a clear message on the importance of privacy and protection from voyeurism, the Supreme Court has affirmed the conviction of a man who secretly took videos of his nieces in their bathroom.
In a decision penned by Associate Justice Mario V. Lopez, the Supreme Court’s Second Division denied the appeal of the man and sentenced him to imprisonment and a fine of P900,000, for violating Section 4(a) of Republic Act No. 9995, or the Anti-Photo and Video Voyeurism Act of 2009.
The man frequented the house of his three nieces to supervise its renovation.
While preparing to take a bath one day, the niece.discovered that she was being filmed, through a small hole in a soap box, with a cellular phone owned by the man.
She browsed through the phone’s contents and saw several nude videos of herself, her sisters, and her cousin taking a bath in the same bathroom.
Using her own phone, the niece captured snippets and stills of the malicious videos from the man’s phone and reported the incident to the barangay.
The man was charged with violation of the Anti-Photo and Video Voyeurism Act of 2009 and was convicted by the Regional Trial Court.
The Court of Appeals affirmed his conviction, prompting the present appeal.
In denying his appeal, the Supreme Court found that all the elements of photo or video voyeurism under Section 4(a) of the Anti-Photo and Video Voyeurism Act of 2009 were present: (1) the accused takes a photo or video of the private area of a person such as the naked or undergarment-clad genitals, pubic area, buttocks, or female breast; (2) the photo or video was taken without the
person’s consent; and (3) the person has a reasonable expectation of privacy.
The prosecution proved that the man captured photos of his nieces with his phone.
The videos were taken without the victims’ permission in a bathroom, where people expect privacy to undress.
