Man gets jail and caning for posting nude videos of woman on porn website that exposed her identity

SINGAPORE— A 20-year-old man uploaded two nude videos of a 19-year-old woman on a pornographic website, including her full name and her Instagram username.

For his crimes, Elvis Hoe Zheng Yong was sentenced to five months' jail and one stroke of the cane on Wednesday (Dec 28).

Hoe, who is now 21, pleaded guilty to two charges of intentionally distributing intimate recordings of the victim without her consent, knowing that it would likely humiliate her.

The court heard that Hoe was acquainted with the victim and had chatted with her on messaging application Telegram since 2020.

While they spoke, he asked the victim to send him videos of herself in the nude for his personal viewing.

The victim at first refused, but Hoe persisted with the request, so she eventually agreed.

On March 20, 2021, Hoe uploaded two videos of the victim to his account on a pornographic website that hosts user-submitted videos.

He did this to gain views and attention online, said the prosecutor.

Hoe named the videos with the victim's Instagram username, her full name and the words "sg xmm", which is short for Singapore "xiao mei mei" or slang for a young Singaporean girl.

That same day, the victim received numerous messages on Facebook and Instagram from strangers. They asked if she was that person in the videos and for her place of residence.

Her relatives also received copies of the videos and told her that they were being circulated online.

The victim visited the website herself and saw a nude video of herself on it. She messaged Hoe and asked if he had uploaded her videos online, but he denied it.

He then blocked her on Telegram and deleted their messages. He also deleted the videos from the website, but they had already been viewed about 1,500 and 10,000 times respectively.

The victim lodged a police report against Hoe on March 22, 2021. Hoe was arrested and his phone was seized.

A total of 10 intimate recordings of the victim showing her private parts were found in his phone. 

Hoe was on probation when he committed these offences.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Tan Pei Wei asked for five to seven months' jail for Hoe and for caning to be imposed.

She said Hoe had uploaded the videos to a pornographic website and identified her by name for self-gratification. 

HE REOFFENDED WHILE UNDER PROBATION

Reoffending while under probation is a "weighty and relevant consideration militating against a further probation order as it points towards the conclusion that the offender has not learnt his lesson", said Ms Tan, citing a previous High Court judgment.

She added Hoe does not appear to have acknowledged the gravity of his acts.

"To the contrary, he seems to have downplayed his actions to the probation officer," said Ms Tan.

He claimed that he was unaware that the videos would receive over 10,000 views until advised by his older brother on the virality of social media.

Ms Tan said this did not make sense given that Hoe had posted the videos online for this very reason — to gain views and attention.

He also asserted that he thought he could circulate the videos because the victim had agreed to send them to him, but Ms Tan pointed to how he swiftly deleted the videos and blocked the victim on social media when she confronted him.

The risk factors which caused the last attempt at probation to fail have shown no indication of being effectively addressed, said Ms Tan.

These factors include Hoe's willingness to resort to illegal means to solve his problems and inadequate supervision by his parents.

Ms Tan cited a recent High Court judgment that caning would be presumptively warranted in certain situations. One of these include where an offender widely disseminates, such as on porn websites, recordings depicting a victim who is identifiable or expressly identified. CNA

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