Man gets jail for posting image of his wife having sex with her supervisor

SINGAPORE: A 27-year-old man was sentenced to 13 weeks' jail on Friday (Dec 3) for stealing his then-wife's phone and posting an image of the woman having sex with her supervisor on Facebook.

The man, who cannot be named due to gag orders protecting the victim's identity, pleaded guilty in September to a charge each of theft and distributing an intimate image. Another two charges were considered in sentencing.

The couple has since divorced. 

At the time of the offences in February last year, the man was still married to the 30-year-old victim, but he was estranged from her and had moved out of the matrimonial home.

On Feb 6, 2020, he went to her home to use the toilet, before taking her phone and running out of the house.

He looked through her phone as he suspected she was having an affair and found several intimate images and videos of her. 

He used his own phone to photograph and film the footage, including: A four-second clip of the victim's chest with her face partially visible, a 16-second video of her fully naked, and an image of her having sex with her work supervisor, with both their faces fully visible.

The man later returned the phone to the victim, but did not tell her about the footage he had of her.

At around 8am on Feb 12, 2020, he posted his wife's intimate images on Facebook so that "everyone can see them", court documents said.

He claimed he did so as he did not want others to "share the same fate" as him, and set the post to "public" so that it could be viewed by everyone. He also included the name and occupation of his wife's supervisor in his post, describing him as a homewrecker and warning people to be aware of him.

In his post, he included the image of his wife having sex with her supervisor, as well as photos of the supervisor and screenshots of text conversations she had with him.

The post went viral and was shared about 2,000 times by 4pm that day, with about 3,000 likes and 1,000 comments. A friend of the supervisor informed him about the post within the hour, while the victim received calls from her friends over it.

Not expecting that the post would "receive so much attention", the man later removed it.

The prosecution had sought 18 months' jail, while lawyer Wee Hong Shern asked for five to seven weeks' jail.

EX-WIFE COMMITTED SACRILEGE: DEFENCE

Mr Wee said his client has no prior convictions and has suffered from this ordeal, developing major depressive disorder. 

He said his client has tried to obey his religion by trusting his then-wife and encouraging her not to engage in "haram" activities.

It was the victim who abused his client's trust, Mr Wee said, noting that she was his wife at the time and "had committed sacrilege" by engaging in sexual intercourse with another man.

Instead of being ashamed or clandestine in her affair, she instead "had the audacity to immortalise her sacrilege by consenting to and keeping a recording of her sexual intercourse of the extra-marital affair".

"Whilst she may not have done anything criminal, her acts are revoltingly immoral," said Mr Wee.

His client was allowed to begin his jail term on Dec 17. The prosecution intends to appeal.

For theft, the man could have been jailed up to seven years and fined. For intentionally distributing an intimate image of another person, he could have been jailed up to five years, fined, caned, or given a combination of these punishments.