6 months’ jail for man who leaked ex-girlfriend’s intimate images after breakup

SINGAPORE — Unhappy that a two-year relationship had ended, a 26-year-old man sent intimate images of his ex-girlfriend to her new boyfriend and a mutual friend.

On Wednesday (April 5), the accused was sentenced to six months’ jail after pleading guilty to one count of intentionally distributing an intimate image or recording of another person without her consent. One similar charge was taken into consideration during sentencing.

Any information that may lead to the identification of the victim cannot be published due to a gag order to protect her identity. The accused’s name was also redacted in court documents.

The court heard on Wednesday that the man and the victim had started dating around April 2019 and ended their relationship around the middle of 2021.

During their time together, they had engaged in consensual sex and sexual acts, some of which the accused had recorded.

After the breakup, the woman, 25, went into a relationship with another person. 

“The accused was upset at their relationship,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor Brian Tan.

On April 6, 2022, the accused chatted with a mutual friend of his and the victim, and found out that the victim owed the friend, a woman, some money.

“The accused and the friend spoke about this matter and the friend suggested that the accused send her some of the victim’s nudes so that the friend could blackmail the victim for the money,” said the prosecutor.

The man then sent two videos and a photo of his ex-girlfriend engaging in intimate acts, one of which captured the woman’s face.

After doing so, he messaged the friend to inform her that he had also sent the materials to the victim’s current boyfriend, except for the image showing her face.

The accused then made derogatory comments to the friend about the victim, calling her “cheaper than prostitute”.

The friend then replied that she was kidding about the blackmail plan.

The court heard that when the victim opened her Facebook messenger application on the same day, she found that she was logged into the accused's account. That was how she uncovered what the accused had sent to their friend.

The victim then lodged a police report.

It was not stated in court how the victim’s Facebook messenger was logged into the accused’s account.

DPP Tan sought a jail term of six to seven months, saying that the accused had acted with malice, though he acknowledged that the accused had indicated his intention to plead guilty early.

Defence counsel Azri Imran Tan pleaded for a shorter jail sentence not exceeding four months. In his mitigation, he said his client was a relatively young man with strong family support and propensity to reform.

Delivering his sentence, District Judge John Ng told the accused that the prosecutor had been fair in his submissions, and the court was thus “prepared to go with his suggestion” on sentencing.

For each count of distributing an intimate image or recording without a person’s consent, the accused could have been sentenced to jail for up to five years, fined, caned, or handed a combination of any of the three punishments.