Youth admits threatening to spread nude photos of teen girls, eventually posting some on Instagram

• A Singaporean youth, now aged 20, pleaded guilty to multiple sexual and intimidation offences
• He met girls on mobile applications and convinced them to send him their nude photos
• He would later threaten to circulate them if they did not send him more
• He could not accept his 13-year-old girlfriend breaking up with him and also threatened to publish her nude photos
• After he was caught, he admitted to threatening many other girls but could not remember exactly who or how many

SINGAPORE — After meeting girls online via various mobile applications, a youth convinced them to send him nude photographs of themselves and then threatened to circulate the photos online if they refused to provide more.

The Singaporean youth, now aged 20, pleaded guilty on Tuesday (Nov 2) to five charges each of criminal intimidation and sexual penetration of a minor. Thirteen similar charges will be taken into consideration for sentencing on Dec 14.

He was remanded to assess his suitability for reformative training — a regimented rehabilitation programme for offenders under 21 who commit relatively serious crimes.

District Judge Kessler Soh called for a report to assess as well if he is suitable for probation, a less severe punishment that does not result in a recorded criminal conviction and allows young offenders to continue with their education or employment while serving their sentences.

His three victims cannot be named due to court orders to protect their identities.

The youth also cannot be named because he committed some of the offences before he turned 18 and the Children and Young Persons Act bans the publication of the identities of such young offenders.

FIRST VICTIM 

The court heard that he started dating his first victim, who was in the same co-curricular activity as him in school, in April 2018. She was in Secondary 2, while he was in Secondary 4.

Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Joshua Lim told the court that she felt “disgusted and guilty” after having underage sex with the youth several times, but did not know how to tell him that she wanted to end their relationship.

When she told him in November that year that she wanted to break up with him, he threatened to circulate a nude photo of her if she did not change her mind.

She begged him not to do this and he continued to try to convince her to stay together, but she refused.

A week after their breakup, he threatened to spread the obscene photo if she did not send him more nude photos featuring her face. Feeling like she had no choice, she sent him the nude photo.

When he continued to harass her, she confided in her psychologist and told her father. She then made a police report at Woodlands West Neighbourhood Police Centre.

SECOND VICTIM

The youth met his second victim on a messaging app in April 2019 when she was in Secondary 2. He had just completed his secondary school education.

Soon after, he began threatening to send her mother a screenshot of their conversation on WhatsApp, where she had told him that “touching herself felt comfortable”.

She continued rejecting his requests to send him nude photos of herself but eventually complied due to his threats.

She also told him not to show the photos to others and that she would call the police if he did. He replied that she would “get beat the shit out by parent (sic)” if she did so.

He continued to use her nude photos as leverage and asked repeatedly if she wanted to have sex.

She told him that she would block him and call the police, to which he said that her mother would then know what she was doing and that she would get into trouble at school. She did not make a police report or tell her parents out of fear.

These offences came to light after the authorities began investigating a third victim of the accused.

THIRD VICTIM

He met the third victim, who was in Secondary 4 at the time, on the Tan Tan app in March 2019.

She sent him nude photos of her but stopped responding to him when she was having examinations. He turned paranoid and upset, threatening to circulate her details and photos if she did not give him more photos.

On May 12 that year, he demanded that she send him more photos. She then made a police report, but two days later, he uploaded the photos on Instagram on a public account.

He was arrested on July 15 that year.

He admitted to threatening many other girls but could not remember exactly who or how many, having done this since he was 15 or 16 years old.

He told a psychiatrist from the Institute of Mental Health that he had difficulty managing his sexual urges and had been masturbating daily for the last 10 years.

In mitigation, the youth's lawyer Foo Cheow Ming alleged that the boy was sexually abused in his early years. When he was 17, he was diagnosed with major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder in Malaysia and his family moved to Singapore because of his “unfortunate situation”.

Mr Foo also noted from a psychiatric report that about one in every eight sexually abused boys go on to become sexual offenders in adulthood.

“This is the pitiful predicament the accused has found himself in,” the defence counsel added.

Mr Foo also urged District Judge Soh to consider that his client was “not so much a rogue but a poor fool; a hapless victim of circumstances beyond his control since young, including his hyperactive sexual urges”.

Those convicted of criminal intimidation can be jailed for up to two years or fined, or both.

Those convicted of sexual penetration of a minor under 14 can be jailed for up to 20 years, as well as fined or caned.