SINGAPORE — While his girlfriend was asleep after taking her medicine for depression, a man took photos and videos of himself performing sex acts on her on several occasions.

She discovered the photos stored in his cloud storage account a few months after they broke up, and she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) because of what he did.

When the police were conducting investigations, they found the videos that the man had filmed on his mobile phone.

On Tuesday (March 13), the 29-year-old man pleaded guilty to three charges of insulting the modesty of a woman and a charge of obstruction of justice.

He was sentenced to 12 weeks' jail for each count of insulting the modesty of a woman, two of which will run concurrently, and one week's jail for obstruction of charge. In total, he is to serve a jail term of 13 weeks.

Another six charges for insulting the modesty of a woman were taken into consideration for sentencing.

The duo cannot be named due to a court order protecting both their identities.

WHAT HAPPENED

The court heard that the man and his girlfriend were in a relationship from December 2014 to November 2017.

The man was 19 to 21 years old during this period, while the victim was aged 18 to 20.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) R Arvindren said: "During the course of their relationship, the victim noticed the accused behaving strangely while she was sleeping beside him. 

"She will wake up noticing the accused lying in between her legs covered under a blanket with a light shining through."

Although she suspected that the man was filming her genitals, she did not confront him at the time. She also slept naked on some days at his request.

Sometime in May 2018, a few months after they broke up, she recalled that she had caught him taking photos of her private parts on one occasion when they were still together.

Knowing her ex-boyfriend's passwords to his online accounts, she logged into his account from the file-hosting application Mega and found several intimate photos of herself.

DPP Arvindren said that she deleted the photos, deactivated the man's account and later made a police report on June 3, 2018.

Police investigations found nine intimate videos of the victim in the man's phone taken between 2015 and 2017. Her face was not visible in these videos.

During their relationship, the victim was suffering from depression and she took prescribed medication. Drowsiness was a side effect.

Knowing that she would doze off after taking the medicine, her boyfriend would record himself performing sexual acts on the victim while she was asleep on some occasions, DPP Arvindren said.

Two days after she filed the police report, the man asked her via text message to tell the police that she had consented to him recording the sex acts, which he knew was untrue.

DPP Arvindren said: "He told the victim that in return, he would go to her and kneel for 24 hours if that’s what it takes and that he cannot afford to go to jail as his family would suffer.

"The victim told the accused that she will not do as told and the accused told the victim to delete the chat thereafter."

The woman did not delete the messages and submitted them to the police as evidence.

The man was prosecuted about five years after investigations began.

Court documents showed that on Dec 9 in 2021, the victim made an appeal regarding her case against the man. 

TODAY has asked the Attorney's General Chambers what the appeal was about, and why it took so many years for his case to go to court.

VULNERABLE VICTIM

DPP Arvindren called for a sentence of 12 to 14 weeks' jail, noting that the man had abused the trust that the victim placed in him as her boyfriend.

"She was already vulnerable... suffering from depression and the accused’s offences had only made her mental condition worse," he added, pointing out that the victim was diagnosed with PTSD due to the man's offences.

Mr Nicholas Leong from law firm Nine Yards Chambers LLC, who was representing the man, said that his client is "deeply remorseful" and that this would be the man's "final brush with the law".

Mr Leong noted that the offences "were committed nearly nine years ago and a substantial period of time has passed before (the man) was charged."

In the man's mitigation plea, he stated that he was investigated for possession of obscene material in 2018 and was administered a warning.

He was also investigated in 2022 for rape in relation to the same victim, but no action was taken against him. Court documents did not give more details on this incident.

Mr Leong said: "He was investigated for a third time in 2023 for the present charges after the victim made an appeal regarding the investigations into the alleged sexual assault.

"Had the charges been brought much earlier, (my client) may have been eligible for probation."

Probation is usually offered to first-time offenders between 16 and 21 years old. It is a sentencing option that does not result in a recorded criminal conviction and allows the offenders to continue with their education or employment while serving their sentences.

Mr Leong asked for a total sentence of three weeks' jail.

For insulting the modesty of a woman, the man could have been jailed for up to one year or fined, or both.

For obstruction of justice, he could have been jailed for up to seven years or fined, or both.