Jail for man who threatened to share intimate photo of ex-lover, used PayLah! to message her
SINGAPORE — After learning that his ex-girlfriend had blocked him on social media platforms and was in contact with one of his friends, a man used payment app DBS PayLah! to send her messages threatening to share an intimate photo he had taken of her.
The man, now 26, was sentenced to 12 weeks’ jail on Tuesday after pleading guilty to two charges: One count of intentionally recording a person doing a private act without their consent and one count of threatening to distribute intimate images without consent.
One other charge of threatening to distribute intimate images without consent for the same incident was taken into consideration for sentencing.
The man and his ex-girlfriend cannot be named due to a court order preventing the identification of the victim.
WHAT HAPPENED
The man was in a romantic relationship with the victim, also 26, from November 2022 to April 2023, during which the man intentionally recorded her during a sexual act without her consent.
He took a photograph of her with his handphone when she was lying on his bed, with her chest exposed. Her face was not visible in the image.
While she did not consent to him recording the picture, she knew that he had a “fetish” for taking photographs and videos during sexual intercourse.
The victim had consistently told her then-boyfriend that she would not allow him to record her during such intimate moments.
Their relationship ended on April 14, 2023, after which the victim blocked the man on her social media platforms.
Shortly after their relationship ended, the man found out that his ex-girlfriend was in contact with one of his friends.
Trying to get in contact with his ex-girlfriend who blocked him, he made six PayLah! payments of S$0.01 each to the victim on the same day, which allowed him to send a message along with each transaction.
On April 22, 2023, the man sent his first message which read, “Still dw (don’t want) unblock? Or u want I cause trouble for u?”
He immediately sent another message via PayLah! saying, “Don’t force me, I can do it even if u block me.”
He sent four other messages over the next two hours, where he told her in a third message accompanying a PayLah! transaction that if she did not reply him, he would take it that she was “daring” him.
He later sent another transaction where he said he would treat her lack of reply as her daring him, and asked if she remembered his “fetish”.
In the two further messages, he said that he “(had) it” and said that he would assume that he could do whatever he wanted with “it”, since he was still blocked by her.
The next day, the man spoke with the victim over the phone, telling her not to “get involved” with his friend, the court heard.
Around a week later, the man saw the victim together with his friend at Vivocity shopping mall.
Unhappy that his ex-girlfriend was still meeting his friend despite his warning, the man sent her a series of messages on Telegram on April 30, 2023.
Court documents did not explain how the man was able to send messages on Telegram even though the woman had blocked him on her social media platforms.
The man sent the intimate image he had taken, asking if she “wanted trouble” and told her to “cut contact” with his friend or she would see the intimate image online or sent to her friends and family, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Koh Yi Wen.
The prosecutor added that the messages made the victim feel “threatened and vulnerable”, and she was uncertain how many intimate photographs the man had taken without her consent.
On May 1, 2023, the victim made a police report about her ex-boyfriend’s harassment and taking of the intimate photo without her consent soon after he threatened to distribute the picture.
Court documents did not state how the man was arrested.
Anyone who is convicted of intentionally recording another person during an intimate act without their consent can be jailed for up to two years or be fined and caned.
Those who threaten to distribute an intimate image or recording without consent can be jailed for up to five years, be fined or caned, or receive any combination of these punishments.
