SINGAPORE: After a couple broke up, the woman blocked the man on social media, but the man had secretly taken a nude photo of her.
Unable to contact her via the usual platforms, he sent her a series of one-cent PayLah transactions with accompanying messages threatening to distribute the image.
The 26-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the 26-year-old victim, was sentenced to 12 weeks’ jail on Wednesday (Feb 14).
He pleaded guilty to one count each of voyeurism and threatening to distribute an intimate image, with a third charge of threatening his ex-girlfriend via PayLah taken into consideration.
The court heard that the couple were together from November 2022 to April 2023.
While they were together, the man secretly took a photo of the woman with his handphone that showed her bare chest.
He knew that the woman did not consent to this. Despite knowing that he had a fetish for taking photos and videos during sex, the woman always told him that she would not allow him to do so.
The woman blocked the man on social media after they broke up.
The man later found out that his ex-girlfriend had been in contact with one of his friends.
THE PAYLAH THREATS
On Apr 22 last year, the man made six PayLah payments of S$0.01 each to the victim.
With each payment, he attached messages that asked if she still did not want to “unblock” him, and if she wanted him to cause trouble for her.
“Don’t force me, I can do it even if you block me,” he wrote in short form in one message.
When she did not respond, the man sent another one-cent transaction about an hour later, saying: “OK I take it as a yes. (You remember) my fetish?”
He later said: “Yup, I have it. Still blocked. I assume I can do (whatever) I want with it.”
The next day, the man called the victim and told her not to get involved with his friend.
However, he saw her with his friend at a mall about a week later.
On Apr 30, 2023, the offender sent his ex-girlfriend a series of messages on Telegram, sending her the intimate image he had taken of her and asking her if she wanted trouble.
On May 1, 2023, the man sent the victim another message on Telegram telling her to “cut contact” with his friend completely. If she did not, she would see the photo of herself posted online or sent to her family or friends, he said.
The woman felt intimidated and afraid. She also did not know how many intimate photos her ex-boyfriend had of her.
She lodged a police report that same day, saying her ex-boyfriend was harassing her and had sent her an intimate image of herself.
The prosecutor sought at least 12 weeks’ jail.
For threatening the distribution of an intimate image, the man could have been jailed for up to five years, fined and caned.
For voyeurism, he could have been jailed for up to two years, fined and caned.