Man blackmailed 3 girls for nude photos, circulated photo of 1 of them
SINGAPORE — A 20-year-old man who threatened three girls for nude photos was ordered to undergo assessment for probation and reformative training reports on Tuesday (2 November).
The accused, who was 16 when he first offended, pleaded guilty to offences involving three girls. These include multiple charges of sexual penetration of a minor, criminal intimidation, and circulating obscene material. He cannot be named as he was under 18 at the time of the offences.
Among them, the then teenager threatened to circulate nude photos of his 13-year-old girlfriend if she broke up with him, and later blackmailed her for more nude photos.
The boy then blackmailed two other girls, 14 and 16, for nude photos. He threatened to expose his sexual conversations with the 14-year-old girl to her mother, while threatening to circulate the older girl’s nude photos, which she had sent to him on her volition.
The 13-year-old victim was his schoolmate and was involved in the same co-curricular activity as him. They began dating in April 2018 when he was in Secondary 4 and she was in Secondary 2.
While dating, the two had unprotected sex on multiple occasions. The girl felt disgusted and guilty about their sexual encounters, but she did not know how to end the relationship.
After a sexual encounter in November 2018, the girl decided to end the relationship, the prosecution said. On 21 November 2018, she indicated her wish to the boy but he told her that if she did so, he would circulate a nude photo of her.
“The first victim begged him to not do so, although she was resolute in not reconciling,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor Joshua Lim.
A week after they broke up, the boy threatened to circulate her nude photo unless she sent him more of such photos with her face exposed. Feeling like she did not have a choice, the girl caved in to his demands. However, he continued to harass her. The girl confided in her psychologist, who later made a police report.
Threatened to expose sexual conversation
The boy met the 14-year-old victim through a messaging application in 2019. On 24 April 2019, he texted the girl to ask for nude photos.
She rejected him and he sent her a screenshot of their conversation, in which she had told him that “touching herself felt comfortable”. He threatened to send the screenshot to her mother until the girl sent revealing pictures of herself.
After the girl sent several such photos to the boy, he told her that she looked good and that she was obedient. Regretting her actions, the girl asked him to delete the photos, but he refused to do so. She said that she would call the police if he shared the photos, but he replied that if she did so she would “get beat the ***t out by (sic) parent”. He then kept harassing her for sex.
He threatened to circulate the girl's nude photos and would only delete them if she has sex with him. He told her that they could have sex at HDB stairwells, which did not have cameras.
The girl did not make a police report or inform her parents about the harassment. The offences were uncovered during police investigations.
Harassed 16-year-old girl for daily nudes
The boy met the 16-year-old victim through a chat application in March 2019. At the boy's request, she sent him two pictures of herself naked.
As the victim was having exams, she did not reply to the boy’s messages. He became paranoid and upset.
On 11 May 2019, the victim was studying when the boy texted her. She forgot to reply to him and he became rude, demanding that she provide him with a picture of her breasts and her face. The boy threatened to circulate the girl's details and nude photos. The girl complied out of fear.
A day later, the boy said there were “new rules” and demanded that the victim send him nude photos daily, or else he would spread her photos.
Feeling threatened, the girl reported him to the police. The boy carried out his threat on 14 May 2019 by posting the victim’s nude photos on Instagram with a new account he had created.
He was arrested on 15 July 2019 at his home.
During investigations, the boy admitted to threatening other girls for the same purpose for some time. He said he could not remember exactly how many girls he had threatened.
“He remembered that he would have girls send him nude photographs of themselves over various applications (WhatsApp, WeChat, Telegram, Tan Tan, Meet Me, Tinder, Me Chat, OkCupid, Scout), and he would ask for more photographs,” said DPP Lim.
He would then blackmail them for more nude photos using the original photos he had.
According to the boy, he had difficulty managing his strong sexual urges. He also claimed to have met girls for sex in Malaysia when he was 14 or 15.
The accused's lawyer, Foo Cheow Ming, said that his client had been sexually abused in his childhood and had been diagnosed with major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder by a clinic in Johor Bahru.
The lawyer described his client as a "human train wreck at the tender age of 17”. Due to his situation, the family relocated to Singapore, and the teen felt “extremely bad” about this.
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