'I don't know why I did this': Ex-Singapore embassy counsellor admits to secretly filming boy in Tokyo bathhouse

A counsellor at the Singapore Embassy in Japan who admitted to secretly filming a boy at a public bath in Tokyo, among other acts of voyeurism, is set to be asked to appear in a Japanese court, the Japanese media reported on May 2.

The 55-year-old man, who has not been named, has since left the foreign service. A counsellor is a diplomatic rank for experienced foreign service officers.

He was caught using a smartphone to film an undressed male teenager in the men's changing room of a public bath on Feb 27, Asahi Shimbun reported.

A security camera at the bathhouse caught the Singaporean pointing his smartphone at another male customer, the Japanese daily reported.

The incident was reported to the police by an employee of the bathhouse in Tokyo's Minato ward, where the Singapore embassy is located.

The embassy told Asahi Shimbun on May 2 that the counsellor had already returned to Singapore. An embassy spokesman said the man had completed his mission and left Japan on April 12, adding that it was not aware about the filming incident.

The embassy did not respond to The Straits Times when contacted.

A check on the website for the Singapore Embassy in Tokyo's staff revealed personnel changes to its counsellors on April 18.

Japan's public baths, known as sento, are typically used in a communal fashion, with sento visitors unclothing themselves in gender-segregated changing rooms before showering and entering the bath waters.

Investigators who searched the man's phone found footage of the boy in the nude, as well as footage of multiple male customers that appeared to have been taken in the bath's communal changing room.

The man admitted to investigators that he had also taken photos surreptitiously at other public baths. At least 700 images taken over a six-month period — which he deleted that night on Feb 27 — were found on his phone.

He introduced himself to police officers as a diplomat and refused to go to a police station, telling them he would answer questions at the bathhouse, where he admitted filming five times in the past.

He also refused to hand over his smartphone to the police, but deleted the photos of the boy he had taken that night at the request of the student's parents. The man was not charged.

The male junior high school student was 13, reported Japanese national broadcaster NHK.

He told officers that he regretted his actions, saying: "I don't know why I did this."

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department is set to make a request in May for the man to appear in a Japanese court, with the police considering charges against him for violating laws that prohibit child pornography and the filming of a person's body without consent.

The police have evidence they will provide to prosecutors, according to the Japanese media.

The police are in discussions with Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Police Agency to ask the embassy to request the man to turn himself in, as he had immunity from arrest in Japan as a diplomat.

There are difficulties in apprehending diplomatic envoys linked to criminal cases in Japan, a senior police officer said.

"When people come forward and identify themselves as diplomats, police cannot arrest them, even if they voluntarily submit to questioning. Police officers know this. Therefore, they refrain from asking them to accompany them to (a police station)," the officer told Asahi Shimbun.

Under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, diplomatic officers enjoy immunity from criminal jurisdiction in their receiving state, which also protects them from prosecution and physical restraint by law enforcement authorities.

In 2006, Japan police filed a complaint against a security guard at the Indian Embassy in Tokyo for sexually harassing a Japanese woman looking to apply for a visa, reported The Times of India.

He was able to return to India despite Tokyo police obtaining an arrest warrant for him.

The Straits Times has contacted Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.

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