18-year-old admits to selling intimate pictures and videos of his ex-girlfriend online and is also accused of raping a minor

SINGAPORE – A boy promised his ex-girlfriend to delete intimate photos and videos of her, but later decided to upload them to a file-sharing website and sell them.

On Monday (May 27), the boy, now 18, was found guilty on two counts of distributing intimate images and recordings of the girl, now 16, without her consent.

He also pleaded guilty to one count of rape and sexual penetration of a minor.

In addition, several other charges were admitted relating to intentionally causing personal injury by use of a dangerous weapon, committing criminal damage, fraud and fraudulently inducing a transfer of property, and placing advertisements for the sale of tobacco products.

In reaching the verdict, 16 other charges of a similar nature will be taken into account.

The teenager and his victims are not allowed to give their names because the court imposed a news gag order to protect the victims’ identities.

WHAT HAPPENED

The boy and his victim, who were schoolmates, had a brief relationship in 2019. They then broke up but remained friends.

At some point in June 2021, the victim sent him 23 intimate pictures of herself via WhatsApp and asked him to delete them afterwards.

The boy promised her that he would do so, but then backed out of the agreement.

The following day, the victim sent another 20 intimate pictures and videos to another boy and also asked him to delete them after viewing them.

She didn’t know that the two boys were together at the time.

The first boy forwarded the second set of pictures and videos from the second boy’s cell phone to his own.

In early August 2021, the perpetrator posted ads with pictures and videos of the victim on the social media platform Reddit.

He also uploaded them to the file hosting website Mega and created sharing links.

According to court documents, he distributed them 77 times between August 15, 2021, and January 20, 2022.

Interested buyers contacted the perpetrator via Telegram and then transferred amounts between 15 and 120 Singapore dollars to his PayPal or bank account.

In total, he earned about S$3,050 from the transactions.

On January 25, 2022, the victim was alerted by another ex-girlfriend of the perpetrator that her pictures and recordings were being offered for sale on the Internet.

The victim reported the incident to the police the same day.

The perpetrator’s other ex-girlfriend was also another of his victims. Her intimate pictures and recordings were passed on to others without her knowledge.

The boy was later arrested.

OTHER SEXUAL OFFENSES

The court heard on Monday that the offender committed further sexual offences following these incidents.

In December 2022, he penetrated a then 14-year-old girl who was attending the 2nd secondary school at his home.

In March 2023, he had sexual intercourse with a then 13-year-old girl during a drinking party at his house.

The victim then reported the incident to the police and stated that she had been raped.

Other criminal offences relating to the intentional causing of personal injury through the use of dangerous weapons, damage to property, fraud and the fraudulent transfer of property, as well as the placing of advertisements for the sale of tobacco products were also tried in court.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Tung Shou Pin asked the court to request a report on the offender’s suitability for correctional education because the offender was “unrepentant” and the 24 charges against him were of a serious nature.

In addition, he frequently relapsed during his time in prison on bail.

To mitigate the sentence, defense attorney Edwin Ho of the public defense asked the court to request a probation report because the teenager committed the crimes out of “youthful folly.”

District Judge Carol Ling requested suitability reports for correctional and probation measures.

The teenager will be sentenced on June 28.