Duo jailed for distributing nude photos of man to his neighbours in Yishun
Two men who pasted degrading photos of another man at his Yishun HDB block and a shopping centre, and distributed nude images of the victim to his neighbours, were on Tuesday (2 October) jailed for their crimes.
Aaron James Ang Jian Hian, 40, and Royston Chua Wei Kwang, 30, both pleaded guilty to one charge each of unlawful stalking under the Protection from Harassment Act.
Ang, an IT consultant, was jailed for six months while Chua, a master sergeant with the military police, was jailed for five months.
A district court heard that Ang, Chua, and a Malaysian man named Patrick Chong added the 33-year-old victim as a ‘friend’ on Facebook sometime in 2014 or 2015, as they were entertained by his Facebook posts and YouTube videos.
The male victim had posted provocative videos on YouTube and Facebook.
Ang, Chua and Chong got to know each other on Facebook as they regularly commented on the victim’s posts. The trio would meet in person occasionally when Chong came to Singapore.
At a meet-up in 2015, the trio decided to create posters of the victim and paste them near his home.
On 22 December 2015, they met at a McDonald’s outlet at Lot 1 Shopping Mall. Ang brought along A4 sized posters containing degrading images of the victim. The posters also contained the victim’s address.
The trio then went to the victim’s block in Yishun. Ang pasted one poster at a lift landing and threw the remaining posters at the ground floor.
The victim’s parents saw the poster at the lift landing and told the victim about it. He then lodged a police report.
Less than two months later, on the night of 9 February 2016, the harassers met again. Chong brought along more copies of the same poster that Ang had earlier pasted. Chong also brought along face masks and hats for them to wear, to avoid detection by the police cameras in the area.
Wearing the masks and hats, the trio went to the floor where the victim stayed. Chong placed one poster outside the victim’s flat and the trio pasted a few posters at various spots in the block. Chong also placed one poster on a vending machine at the void deck.
The next morning, at around 11am, Ang, Chua and Chong went to Northpoint Shopping Centre in Yishun. The three harassers pasted copies of the poster on the walls of the male toilets at the shopping centre. They also placed a poster in a lift, and Ang pasted two posters on the walls of the two basement levels.
The trio then headed to the victim’s HDB block. Ang placed posters outside the victim’s flat, while Chong pasted posters at the lift landing of every floor from level 2 till level 12. The victim and his father later removed the posters at their block.
The next day, Ang and Chong went back to the victim’s block. The duo distributed copies of two flyers into residents’ mailboxes. One of the flyers contained a nude photo of the victim, in which his private parts were clearly visible. The victim had taken the photo in 2014, but did not know how it was leaked.
Ang and Chong then went to another block nearby and Chong pasted one poster near the letterbox.
For engaging in a course of conduct involving acts associated with stalking, which caused harassment to the victim, Ang and Chua could have been fined up to $5,000 and jailed for up to 12 months.
Chong is still at large.
