Skip to main content
Best News Website or Mobile Service
WAN-IFRA Digital Media Awards Worldwide 2022
Best News Website or Mobile Service
Digital Media Awards Worldwide 2022
Hamburger Menu

Advertisement

Advertisement

Singapore

Man admits threatening to post intimate videos with girlfriend, using knife to pressure her into sex

Man admits threatening to post intimate videos with girlfriend, using knife to pressure her into sex

File photo of a person on Instagram. (Photo: Unsplash/Leon Seibert)

SINGAPORE: After their relationship deteriorated, a 25-year-old man threatened to post intimate videos with his girlfriend online, and used a knife to pressure her into sex with him.

The man on Tuesday (Aug 2) pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal intimidation and one count of having an offensive weapon. Four more charges will be considered for sentencing.

The 23-year-old victim's identity is protected by gag order, and the offender's name was redacted from court documents.

The court heard that the couple met on a dating application in May 2018. Over a few occasions that year, the man took five videos and one photo of them having sex.

Their relationship started deteriorating in August 2018. In late 2018, the victim told her boyfriend to delete the intimate videos and photo.

She went to his house and deleted the files from his computer and phone with his agreement. But unknown to her, her boyfriend had kept copies of them on other devices.

A few months later on Mar 25, 2019, the couple had an argument. The offender was angry that the victim did not reciprocate his affection and wanted to break up with him.

Over text message, the man threatened to hack into the woman's Instagram account and post the intimate videos and photo of them on her feed, alarming her.

PRESSURED HER INTO SEX WITH A KNIFE

Things took another turn on the night of Apr 7, 2019, when the couple was discussing the state of their relationship while sitting under the victim's block.

Sometime after midnight, the man asked the woman to have sex with him. He was upset as they had not had sex in a long time, since their relationship started deteriorating, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Chong Ee Hsiun.

The victim rebuffed him and the man became angry. He took out a flip-knife from his pocket and held it by the side of his body with the blade still folded, saying: "Really cannot?"

When the victim continued to say no, he flipped the blade of the knife out, poked its tip against his girlfriend's thigh and asked her whether it hurt.

He then explained to the victim that "the sensation of being poked by the knife represents how much he has been hurting all the time due to the deterioration in their relationship", said Mr Chong.

The victim started crying. The man placed the knife's blade at the side of her neck, holding its tip to her skin. He continued to ask her if it hurt, and said this was how he had been feeling.

The victim, still crying, agreed to have sex with her boyfriend and said they could do so during a staycation planned later that month.

The man then put the flip-knife back in his pocket, waited for the victim to calm down and took a taxi home.

According to the offender, he carried the flip-knife around as he felt urges to self-harm. He was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, mixed anxiety and depressive disorder, and alcohol abuse disorder, said Mr Chong.

But the Institute of Mental Health found that these conditions only had a contributory link to his offences involving the flip-knife, and not his threat to distribute the intimate videos with the victim, said the prosecutor.

The prosecution is seeking five to eight months' jail for the man. The offender, who is represented by Mr Chua Hock Lu, will return for sentencing in September.

The punishment for criminal intimidation is jail for up to two years, a fine or both.

For possessing an offensive weapon, the man could be jailed for up to two years.

Source: CNA/dv(rj)

Advertisement

Also worth reading

Advertisement