MELBOURNE — A Singapore-born trainee surgeon has been released on bail in Australia after being accused of secretly filming hundreds of his colleagues in hospital restrooms.

Ryan Cho, 28, faces as many as 500 charges over some 4,500 intimate videos allegedly recorded at three Melbourne hospitals since 2021, Singapore media reported today.

Citing court documents, CNA and The Straits Times both reported that the junior doctor secretly filmed at least 460 women, though the judge noted there was no claim that any of the recordings were distributed.

Cho was arrested in July after a phone was discovered recording from a bag in an Austin Hospital restroom, with police alleging he also filmed in the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Royal Melbourne Hospital.

Justice James Elliott allowed Cho to live with his parents, who moved from Singapore to Melbourne ahead of the ruling, after they posted a A$50,000 (RM154,000) surety.

Prosecutors argued Cho was a flight risk, but the judge said he had surrendered his Singapore passport and had no connections to help him flee.

Cho’s lawyer Julian McMahon was also reported telling the court that the outcome of the case would unlikely change “if my client were to engage in the criminal offence of interfering with witnesses”.

Cho, who studied medicine at Monash University after moving to Australia in 2017, has yet to enter a plea.