Upset with his uncle, man took over cousin’s Facebook and email accounts and harassed her

SINGAPORE — His uncle created a scene at his mother’s wake in December 2015.

Upset that the older man did not let his mother rest in peace and also spoke ill of him, Anbarasan Shankar, 25, ended up harassing his cousin online and getting into trouble with the law.

The undergraduate at an Australian university was fined S$3,000 on Thursday (Nov 1) for two charges of intentionally causing harassment, alarm or distress to his cousin.

Two charges under the Computer Misuse and Cybersecurity Act, as well as another count of intentionally causing alarm, harassment or distress, were taken into consideration for sentencing.

Anbarasan's goal to get back at his uncle started when he discovered that his cousin — the daughter of his uncle — had not logged out of her Facebook and Gmail accounts on his home computer.

On July 20, 2016, the cousin discovered that she had been logged out of those accounts. Months later, on Feb 20 the following year, the cousin received a private message on Facebook consisting of the word “KARMA”.

She ignored it but received a private message on Instagram on April 6 that year. Along with three photos was a message with a smiley emoji that stated: “How would you like it if I sent these pics to your parents?”

The nature of the photos, sent by Anbarasan using another account he had created, was not stated in court documents.

Feeling “alarmed, distressed and helpless”, the cousin blocked the account and reported it.

A few minutes later, Anbarasan sent the cousin’s boyfriend a message via Instagram, stating: “U can tell ur gf (girlfriend) to block me but I will make sure everyone sees her photos.”

He ended the message with another smiley emoji.

A police report was made the same day, and the police traced the unauthorised access of the young woman’s email and Facebook accounts to Anbarasan.

His lawyers Joshua Chai and Lorraine Hoe told the court that Anbarasan was 22 when his mother died and only three when his father died.

At his mother’s wake, his uncle had created a scene about the alleged repayment of a loan from her, and claimed that Anbarasan was an unfilial son, they said. The incident led to his offences, they added.

The defence lawyers noted that Anbarasan did not circulate the photos in the public domain and had messaged his cousin on Instagram on impulse, with the aim of sending the pictures to upset her parents.

He and the cousin were close and had grown up together and studied at the same primary and secondary schools.

For intentionally causing harassment, alarm or distress, Anbarasan could have been jailed up to six months and/or fined up to S$5,000.