Man jailed for filming women in bathrooms

Police found 200 video clips filmed over 100 days

CALGARY Videotaping a Calgary woman and her adult daughter in their bathrooms has landed a handyman 18 months in jail.

Ting Kay Chu was also ordered Wednesday to serve three years of probation for setting up cameras in the bathrooms of the northeast home while doing tile work.

Provincial court Judge Catherine Skene agreed with Crown prosecutor Nadine Nesbitt that jail was required for Chu, who was on probation at the time for a similar crime.

Defence lawyer Austin Nguyen had argued a conditional sentence, which would have allowed Chu to serve his sentence in the community, was appropriate.

But Skene said there were numerous aggravating factors to warrant jail, including the “egregious breach of the privacy of the women in the bathroom of their own home.”

“Their expectation of privacy was at the very high end of the spectrum,” Skene said.

Chu, 45, earlier pleaded guilty to two charges of voyeurism for setting up three cameras in the bathrooms of the residence after he was hired in the summer of 2014.

He also admitted to a charge of breaching probation, as a condition of his previous sentence was that he not possess any electronic devices for a two-year period beginning April 19, 2013.

Skene said the probation and 90-day sentence Chu was handed at that time clearly did not teach him a lesson.

“That sentence and conditions of release did not deter Chu from offending again,” the judge said.

Skene also noted one doctor found Chu a “moderate to high risk to reoffend.”

She called Chu’s crimes “sophisticated,” adding “the setup of the cameras was not haphazard.”

Chu was hired by the mother in July or August of 2014 to retile her ensuite bathroom after he was recommended to her by people from her church.

On Nov. 12, 2014, the woman noticed scratches on the face plate of the electrical socket in her main upstairs bathroom, and a further investigation uncovered a small lens and camera inside.

She and her 20-year-old daughter removed the memory card and discovered video of the young woman in the shower.

A subsequent examination of the card by police found 82 video files of the mother and daughter using the bathroom and shower.

The card also contained 130 deleted videos with similar content, as well as eight videos showing Chu setting up the cameras.

“The videos of Chu show him removing the face plates for the electrical sockets and installing the cameras,” Skene said, reading from a statement of agreed facts. “They also show him sitting on the toilet to check the angle and repositioning the camera.”

Skene said the volume of videos taken over such a short period was astounding. “Two hundred videos from the victims’ bathroom in 100 days is staggering,” she said. Nguyen had argued for a conditional sentence, in part because Chu takes care of his elderly parents.

But Skene said he has a brother and sister who could watch them and noted there are homecare programs in place as well.