Man jailed for entering S’pore with fake passport, threatening to post obscene pictures of ex-fiancee online

SINGAPORE — He falsified his travel documents, committed theft and threatened to put obscene photographs and videos of his ex-fiancee online.

Parker Billie Benjamin was eventually arrested when he arrived at Changi Airport on Aug 5 last year by the police who had received a report from his ex-fiancee.

On Tuesday (March 10), Parker, 45, pleaded guilty to intentional harassment, house trespass to commit theft and knowingly producing a false document to an immigration officer on 19 occasions.

District Judge Eddy Tham jailed the Nigerian for six months and three weeks.

The court heard that in April last year, Benjamin began visiting Singapore regularly after developing a romantic relationship with a Filipina working here.

She would pay for his expenses on their holidays and lend him her credit card. She also paid for a mobile phone and mobile line for him, took a loan for his purported farming business overseas, and paid for some of his air tickets, among other things.

Eventually, they were engaged to be married but things turned sour soon after.

On July 29 last year, during an argument, Benjamin threatened to put obscene photographs and videos of his former fiancee on social media. The pictures had been taken with the woman’s consent during their relationship. They broke up that day.

He later entered his ex-fiancee’s apartment without permission, using a key he had failed to return to her, and stole a laptop and three Philippine passports — two belonging to his former fiancee and the other was her son’s.

The woman reported the crime to the police the day after they split.

NOT WHO HE SAID HE WAS

Benjamin first entered Singapore using a Ghanaian passport on March 3, 2019. The passport bore the assumed particulars of “Kojoh Benjamin Jehoshua” with Benjamin's photo affixed on it.

He allegedly obtained the Ghanaian passport sometime in 2018 and was fully aware that it did not bear his particulars, as stated in his original Nigerian passport.

Besides possessing a counterfeit Ghanaian passport, he was also found to have two other travel documents: American Refugee Travel Documents that were authentic but had already expired. The documents are not passports but are used to facilitate re-entry into the United States.

Benjamin was granted asylum status in the US in 2007, claiming that he was the target of cult groups in Nigeria.

Between March 3 and Aug 5, 2019, he presented and used the counterfeit Ghanaian passport when he arrived in Singapore and departed.

He was able to evade the authorities because immigration officers were unaware that he had produced a false passport.

As a result, they granted him a 30-day visit pass on each occasion of arrival and later allowed him to depart Singapore.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report wrongly identified the District Judge who passed down the sentence. It was District Judge Eddy Tham who did, not District Judge Mathew Joseph. We are sorry for the error.