A doctor who “betrayed” his colleagues by secretly spying on them in the bathroom using tiny hidden cameras gave a ridiculous excuse – about his own small inadequacy.
Ju Young Um, 34, placed the recording devices in air fresheners and a smoke alarm in the bathroom and spare bedroom of his flat in Hyndland, Glasgow. The anaesthetist also filmed a friend and doctor at staff accommodation in Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary but denied doing anything illegal. Instead, he incredibly claimed he had body dysmorphia and insisted he used the footage to compare with other men as he was born with a small penis.
A jury at Glasgow Sheriff Court threw out his small claim and decided Um’s sick acts were done for his sexual gratification. He was found guilty of 23 charges against the Sexual Offences Act between November 2020 and August 2023.
One doctor who knew Um from university and went for dinner at his house was filmed on the toilet at Um’s home. He told Fiscal Lauren Aitchison: “It makes me feel shocked, betrayed and disgusted. Not only because it invaded my privacy but my now wife’s as well.
“I feel like I let her down letting this person into our lives – someone who I trusted in [a] work in a professional capacity. I feel let down and horrified.”
Of Um’s 30 victims, 21 were men and nine were women. Three of the men and one woman were doctors. The court heard Um initially recorded his first victim in secret with a mobile through a window while he showered.
He later attached a camera to a smoke alarm of the fellow’s doctor’s bedroom at the hospital. The footage also captured intimate footage between this man and his partner.
Jurors were told that another doctor had nine recordings made of him showering and using the toilet over a three-month period. Um rented out his spare bedroom to others at the Hyndland property on Airbnb.
Miss Aitchison said in her closing speech to jurors: “Um violated their trust – he recorded them naked, showering, using the toilet and on some occasions having sex. He had the videos saved automatically into a folder which was backed up on hard drives and pen drives just in case.”
Um told jurors in his evidence he was diagnosed with “suspected gigantism” when he was a teenager which was “possibly” why he had a “small penis.” Jurors heard he did not seek medical help until 20 years later.
Miss Aitchison added: “His diagnosis of body dysmorphia does not come until after he was arrested.
“He said all these years led to extremes of secretly recording people. Why wait until you are caught to get private treatment?”
Um insisted he did not want to view images on Google in case he came across illegal photographs. He claimed he did not view pornography as it was “exaggerated and bigger than your normal male” but claimed he did not compare himself with his patients as they were “people who trusted him.”
Sentence was deferred pending background reports until next month by Sheriff Owen Mullan. He was granted bail and put on the sex offenders register meantime.
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