10 weeks’ jail for man who threatened model over nude pictures
Reuters file photo
SINGAPORE — He claimed that he had spent S$5,000 to remove a freelance model’s nude photographs that were circulating on the Internet, and asked her for sexual favours as “compensation”.
When she ignored his calls and text messages, 21-year-old Winfred Quek Xiu Zhi further harassed her and threatened to trade her nude photographs if she “refused to provide him sex”.
For criminal intimidation on a 19-year-old model, who cannot be named to protect her identity, Quek was today (Aug 13) sentenced to 10 weeks’ jail.
The court heard that Quek first came across the nude photos in August 2013, while going through an online forum titled “rare local model pictures”.
The phone numbers of the victim and another woman were also displayed online. When Quek failed to establish contact with the other woman, he preyed on the victim instead.
Sometime later that month, he called the victim using a foreign number and lied that he had paid for her photographs to be removed on the website. He wanted “compensation”, which the victim understood as her sexual favours.
The woman initially agreed but later changed her mind, the court was told. She then stopped responding to Quek’s messages and calls.
On Jan 5 last year, Quek sent Whatsapp messages and badgered the victim to “limit the damage” caused by the online circulation of her nude photographs.
He again lied that he had spent S$5,000 to remove the photographs, and accused the victim of “reneging on her offer” to have sex with him.
Although the victim repeatedly told him to stop contacting her, Quek continued to pester her with text messages, one of which read: “So it’s okay to bring it forward? Like trade publicly?...You said it yourself. Good job. You just antagonised the last person you should on earth.”
His final text message to the victim read: “Good luck. Remember, your brought this upon yourself ... You will one day remember your stupidity.”
In sentencing, District Judge Lim Keng Yeow said Quek’s offence did not involve merely an idle threat, but one that was “clearly serious in nature”.
“The offender gave everything he could to give the victim reason to accede to his demands. He gave every impression that he had the capability, the motivation and the readiness to carry out his threat,” said DJ Lim.
He added that there was a clear measure of calculation, deception and premeditation in how Quek tried to get his victim to surrender to his demands.
While the judge noted that this was Quek’s first offence, he agreed with the prosecution that its “serious nature” warranted a custodial sentence.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Marshall Lim, who pressed for a three-month jail term, said Quek had preyed on a vulnerable victim, and his offence involved a high degree of premeditation and abuse of trust.
DPP Lim added that Quek’s harassment conduct was prolonged and stretched over five months. “He lay down breadcrumbs for the victim, leading to the ultimate end goal of soliciting sex ... this is clearly not the act of a naïve or immature (individual) who did not know better.”
