Man sent lewd films to nearly 25,000 members in Telegram group

SINGAPORE — A man who transmitted obscene photos of women to a Telegram group was jailed for eight weeks and fined $7,000 by a court on Wednesday (12 January).

Yee Wing Kay, 47, pleaded guilty to one count of transmitting three lewd films to the Telegram group "Sam’s lots of CB collection”, which had almost 25,000 members, in 2019.

Separately, Yee, a Malaysian and Singapore permanent resident, pleaded guilty to having 31 obscene photos and 13 such films in his mobile phones. He had another seven counts of a similar nature considered for his sentencing.

"Sam’s lots of CB collection” was a Telegram group chat linked to an adult forum in which users would discuss matters of a sexual nature. Yee joined the Telegram group as a member in 2017.

On 24 October 2019, a 23-year-old woman lodged a police report stating that members of the group had shared indecent photos of girls, and that there were more than 24,000 members in the group.

On 6 November 2019, the police arrested Yee at his Bishan home and seized his two mobile phones. Forensic examination of his devices uncovered the explicit media, which Yee had downloaded for his own viewing.

On an unknown date in 2019, Yee had sent three films to "Sam’s lots of CB collection”. These were of women who were partially nude or engaged in sexual acts. Yee had obtained these files from other Telegram groups or by downloading them from an adult forum.

The prosecution sought eight to 10 weeks' jail with a fine of between $7,000 to $9,000 for Yee.

Yee's lawyer Low Hui Hui said in mitigation that Yee had not reaped any monetary reward and only transmitted a few short films.

Out of the three other men charged in relation to the same group, only one has been dealt with. Administrator, Lincoln Anthony Fernandez, 31, was jailed eight weeks and fined $20,000 on 15 December.

Another two, Tan Yeow Chong, 40, and Wong Ming Jun, 28, have yet to be dealt with.

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