Sending a clear message on the importance of privacy and protection from voyeurism, the Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed the conviction of a man who secretly took naked videos of his nieces in their bathroom.
In a decision penned by Associate Justice Mario V. Lopez, the SC’s Second Division denied the appeal of XXX 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.
XXX frequented the house of his nieces AAA, BBB, and CCC to supervise its renovation.
While preparing to take a bath one day, AAA discovered that she was being filmed, through a small hole in a soap box, with a cellular phone owned by XXX.
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, AAA captured snippets and stills of the malicious videos from XXX’s phone and reported the incident to the barangay.
XXX 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 SC 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 XXX 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.
