In a disturbing case of harassment and privacy invasion, a 26-year-old man was sentenced to 12 weeks’ jail after he pleaded guilty to intentionally recording his ex-girlfriend during a private act without her consent and threatening to distribute intimate images without her permission.
The man & his ex-girlfriend cannot be named due to a court order protecting the victim’s identity.
WHAT HAPPENED :
The man and the victim were in a romantic relationship from November 2022 to April 2023. During this time, the man secretly took a photograph of the victim with her chest exposed while she was lying on his bed. Although she knew about the man’s fetish for capturing sexual acts on camera, she made it clear that she did not consent to being recorded.
When their relationship ended, the victim blocked the man on social media. However, he discovered that she was in contact with one of his friends, prompting him to attempt to get in touch with her through DBS PayLah!, a payment app. He made several payments of S$0.01 each, which allowed him to send messages along with the transactions.
He used these transactions as an opportunity to send a message along with each payment.
According to report, the first message he sent was asking if she still didn’t want to unblock him, or if she wanted him to cause trouble for her.
“Still dw (don’t want) unblock? Or u want I cause trouble for u?”
He quickly followed up with another message, stating that she shouldn’t force him as he could still cause trouble even if she blocked him.
“Don’t force me, I can do it even if u block me”.
Over the course of the next two hours, he sent four more messages through PayLah! transactions.
In one of these messages, he warned her that if she didn’t reply, he would assume she was daring him. He then sent another transaction, suggesting that her lack of reply would be seen as her daring him and asking if she remembered his fetish.
In the remaining two messages, he expressed frustration, stating that he had “it” and claiming that since he was still blocked, he would assume he could do whatever he wanted with “it.”
The following day, the man had a phone conversation with the victim, during which he warned her not to engage with his friend, according to court records.
Approximately one week later, the man spotted the victim at Vivocity shopping mall, accompanied by his friend. Despite warning her against meeting his friend, the man was displeased to see them together and decided to send her a series of messages on Telegram on April 30, 2023. It remains unclear how the man was able to send the messages on Telegram despite being blocked on the woman’s social media platforms.
In these messages, the man shared the intimate image he had taken and asked if she wanted trouble. He also warned her to cut contact with his friend, threatening to share the intimate image online or send it to her friends and family.
According to Deputy Public Prosecutor Koh Yi Wen, these messages made the victim feel threatened and vulnerable. She was uncertain about the number of intimate photographs the man had taken without her consent.
Following the man’s threats to distribute the picture, the victim promptly made a police report on May 1, 2023, regarding her ex-boyfriend’s harassment and non-consensual taking of the intimate photo. The court documents did not provide details on the man’s arrest.
In sentencing the man to 12 weeks’ jail, the court emphasized the severity of his actions.
Deliberately recording an individual during an intimate act without their consent is punishable by imprisonment for up to two years, a fine, or caning. Similarly, threatening to distribute intimate images without consent can result in a prison sentence of up to five years, a fine, caning, or a combination of these penalties.
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