Eugene Quake, a 40-year-old former teacher, has been sentenced to 13 months in prison for possessing child abuse material and for obstructing justice by refusing to provide police with access to his electronic devices.
WARNING : The following article discusses topic of child abuse. This material may be distressing to some readers.
According to CNA, Quake was sentenced in the courts after pleading guilty to one count of each offense, with two additional charges of possessing and making obscene films taken into consideration during sentencing.
Quake, who had been suspended from his teaching position since March 2023, was found to have downloaded the messaging app Telegram in 2020. He initially joined chat groups focused on homosexual p*rnography, but later encountered members sharing child abuse material.
DEATILS OF THE CASE
The court was informed that Quake had viewed videos depicting adults abusing infants and had set his Telegram settings to automatically download content viewed.
As per the report, he also looked for p*rnography online using search terms such as “boys.”
The police raided Quake’s condominium on March 15, 2023, following a tip-off. During the raid, authorities seized two mobile phones, a laptop, and a portable drive.
While Quake provided the passcode for one of the phones, he refused to unlock his primary device (a white iPhone) and his laptop, despite being warned that non-compliance could lead to further charges.
The hard drive, which was not encrypted, contained 10 images depicting child abuse, concerning the welfare of children aged between 10 and 14.
During sentencing, Deputy Public Prosecutor Sheldon Lim argued for a harsher sentence of 14 to 18 months, citing the prolonged nature of Quake’s offenses and the disturbingly graphic content he had accessed. He noted that eight of the ten images recovered were deemed “extremely disturbing.”
READ : Pri-School Teacher Sentenced to Eight Years in Jail for Sexual Abuse of Three Boys In 1990s
Extremely Disturbing Content.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Sheldon Lim requested a prison sentence of between 14 and 18 months for Quake.
DPP mentioned that Quake’s period of offending lasted nearly three years, during which he accessed “incredibly depraved content – videos of adults raping babies and infants”, the report added.
He also noted that Quake possessed ten child abuse images, which documented the exploitation of 13 children aged 10 to 14, with eight of those images containing “extremely disturbing content.”
According to CNA, Quake was accompanied by two men and appeared visibly embarrassed, often looking down during the proceedings. He initially preferred not to elaborate beyond his two-page written plea for mitigation.
When prompted by the judge, Quake stated he was unrepresented because he simply wanted to “move on with whatever sentence” was imposed.
He remarked, “I’m not a lawyer but I would put it as low harm and low culpability.”
Quake claimed he had forgotten the passcode to his white iPhone, asserting that trying to guess it again would result in the device being locked. He also expressed reluctance to disclose his laptop password, citing “sensitive information” related to his partner and wanting to avoid implicating him in the situation. He contended that whatever data was on the laptop had likely already been downloaded to a hard drive that law enforcement had access to.
In response, the prosecutor questioned Quake’s claim about forgetting the iPhone’s passcode since it was used for daily communications. He further argued that Quake should have provided the laptop password to the authorities, given that the contents were already accessible on the hard drive.
As per Straits Times report, the prosecutor said “The depraved nature of the child sexual abuse material found in the accused’s (portable) drive strongly suggests that even more deviant content would be found in (his) primary phone and laptop.”
Between June and November 2019, Quake produced 23 obscene films at his condominium. Additionally, he was found in possession of nearly 3,800 pieces of explicit material, although court documents did not specify the exact nature of this content.
In delivering the sentence, District Judge Koo Zhi Xuan explained the necessity of imposing a sentence to help curb the demand for child abuse materials. He acknowledged the significant duration of Quake’s offenses but remarked that the ten images, while appalling, were not videos and were less depraved than the content in a related case referenced for comparison.
Image via Google
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