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YouTuber Dee Kosh pleads guilty to soliciting paid sex acts from minors, secretly filming sex with man

SINGAPORE — YouTube personality and former radio deejay Dee Kosh pleaded guilty on Monday (May 30) to committing sex-related offences, including offering money to underage males in exchange for sex acts.

YouTube personality Dee Kosh at the State Courts on Monday (May 30).
YouTube personality Dee Kosh at the State Courts on Monday (May 30).
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  • Dee Kosh, a former radio deejay, admitted to three criminal charges on Monday
  • He had targeted three victims who were aged between 15 and 23 at the time
  • He offered sums between S$400 and S$2,000 for sexual acts after approaching them on social media platforms
  • One filmed their text conversation, which Koshy had set to be automatically deleted
  • He will be examined at the Institute of Mental Health

SINGAPORE — YouTube personality and former radio deejay Dee Kosh pleaded guilty on Monday (May 30) to committing sex-related offences, including offering money to underage males in exchange for sex acts.

None of the minors agreed to his advances, but he ended up secretly filming a man who had accepted the arrangement.

The 33-year-old Singaporean, whose real name is Darryl Ian Koshy, admitted to one charge each of communicating with a minor under 18 to obtain sexual services, attempting to sexually exploit a minor under 18, and making an obscene video.

Four other similar charges, including possessing obscene videos, will be taken into consideration for sentencing on July 28.

District Judge Jasvender Kaur granted the prosecution’s application for Koshy to be examined at the Institute of Mental Health. This was because his lawyer Johannes Hadi had obtained a separate psychiatrist’s report on two issues — whether Koshy is a paedophile and what his risk of reoffending is.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Lim Ying Min noted that these would affect sentencing.

FOUND VICTIMS ON INSTAGRAM, GRINDR

The court heard that Koshy’s victims ranged from 15 to 23 years old at the time of his respective offences from 2017 to 2020. They cannot be named due to court orders to protect their identities.

Koshy would identify them through various social media channels such as Instagram and Grindr, a popular gay dating application.

He used his verified accounts on these channels to convince them of his identity. After briefly chatting and ascertaining their ages, he proposed moving their conversations to messaging app Telegram and invited them to a secret chat.

This function allowed Koshy to set a self-destruct timer, which led to their messages being automatically deleted after 30 seconds.

There would be no notification of the deletion and if the victims took screenshots, Koshy would be notified of this. The victims also could not forward the messages to others.

Koshy asked them for sexual services in exchange for sums of money up to S$2,000.

None of the victims reported him to the authorities immediately because they thought they were the only ones he had targeted and were afraid of the consequences of going up against someone they regarded as a celebrity, DPP Lim told the court.

However, on Aug 15 in 2020, one of the victims — identified as A2 in court documents — posted on Instagram that he had been sexually harassed by Koshy in 2017. The boy was 16 years old at the time of the offence.

More victims then came forward to talk about their encounters with Koshy.

That same day, Koshy denied the allegations on his own Instagram page and said that he would be taking the necessary steps to clear up these matters.

The next day, his lawyers issued a letter of demand to A2 demanding that he stop publishing the allegations on all platforms, or further action would be taken.

However, Koshy later wrote in an Instagram post admitting that "there is truth to some of the things which are being said now, and I am sorry to the people I have hurt in the process”.

He was arrested at his Woodlands flat on Oct 5 that year. The police seized multiple electronic devices including several mobile phones, a laptop, a central processing unit (CPU), an iPad and portable hard disks.

Forensic examinations revealed that he had 25 obscene videos on these devices.

‘IT’S EASIER IF YOU DON’T SEE'

The court heard that Koshy first talked to A2 on Feb 14 in 2017 while shooting a video outside Takashimaya department store in Ngee Ann City mall. A2 was distributing fliers there at the time.

Koshy took the boy’s photo and posted it on social media asking if anyone knew him. The boy’s friend then put them in touch with each other.

Koshy learned of the boy’s age and said that he would teach him about production work. He also asked if the boy had a girlfriend before initiating a “question game” of a sexual nature.

He then suggested moving the conversation to Snapchat app, which automatically erases messages after the conversation is over.

He asked the victim for shirtless photos for potential blackmail purposes, in case the victim told anyone about the indecent proposal. The victim did not give one but assured Koshy that he would not talk.

Koshy eventually asked the victim what it would take for him to allow someone to give him oral sex. Koshy said that it did not matter if a male or female was giving it, and added that the victim would be blindfolded in any case.

When the victim said that he was underaged, Koshy replied: “It’s easier if you don’t see, lah, trust me.”

Koshy later said that he would be the one performing the sex act on the victim, and offered increasing sums of between S$400 and S$2,000. The victim declined the offers and got his roommate to take a video of their text conversation, which was submitted to the police.

OFFERED MORE MONEY

Then on March 6 in 2018, Koshy approached a 15-year-old victim — identified as A1 — on Instagram. The boy was surprised that a celebrity had messaged him, the court heard.

He confirmed with Koshy that he was in school and that he was 15. Koshy then suggested that they move to a secret chat on Telegram, and offered S$100 to S$250 in exchange for the victim performing sex acts on him.

The victim felt that this was wrong and rejected Koshy. He also initially felt that the older man was joking but Koshy’s persistence made him realise that this was not the case.

Koshy made four such offers through Telegram and Grindr from March to June 2018, and also offered to take the victim to his house for the sex acts.

The final straw for the victim was when Koshy solicited a penetrative sex act. The victim gradually stopped talking to him, afraid that he would offend him if he stopped all communications immediately.

As for the third victim, Koshy began following him on Instagram in 2016 and invited him to his flat. He was aged about 23 at the time.

The other man accepted because he thought that it would lead to a recruitment opportunity at Koshy’s production company.

The victim then continued to go over and engage in various sex acts, unpaid and paid, with Koshy.

Between 2016 and 2017, Koshy filmed them in his bedroom. The 15-minute-long footage, titled “00007”, captured their sex acts as well as Koshy adjusting the settings of the hidden camera beforehand.

The victim did not know and did not consent to this.

Those convicted of trying to sexually exploit a young person below 16 years old can be fined up to S$10,000 or jailed up to five years, or both.

For communicating for the purpose of obtaining for consideration sexual services of a minor under 18 years old, he could be jailed up to two years or fined, or both.

For making an obscene film, he could be fined between S$20,000 and S$40,000 or jailed up to two years, or both.

Related topics

court crime Dee Kosh underage sex Telegram Grindr paedophile sexual crime social media

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