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Student gets 10 weeks’ jail for threatening woman with trade of nude photos
By Vanessa Paige Chelvan
POSTED: 13 Aug 2015 17:44
SINGAPORE: A 21-year-old man was on Thursday (Aug 13) sentenced to 10 weeks’ jail for threatening to trade nude photographs of his victim publicly.
Winfred Quek Xiu Zhi, a student, had deceived his 20-year-old victim into believing that he could help to remove nude photographs of her that had been posted online by an unknown party. According to court documents, the victim had engaged in several nude photoshoots with various photographers between 2012 and 2013.
In August 2013, Quek contacted the victim using a foreign number and claimed that he could help to remove leaked photographs of her in the nude from the Sammyboy online forum, where they had been uploaded.
Quek also falsely told the victim that he had spent about S$10,000 over 5 months between August 2013 and January 2014, to remove her nude photographs from the website, and asked her for compensation in the form of sexual favours.
The victim agreed but subsequently changed her mind, angering Quek who urged her to “limit the damage” which had been caused by the leaked photographs. The victim told Quek to stop pestering her, saying: “I don’t care anymore. Just leave me alone.”
In an exchange with the victim via Whatsapp on Jan 5, 2014, Quek told her: “Good job. You just antagonised the LAST person you should on earth … Remember, you brought this upon yourself … You will one day remember your stupidity.”
Deputy Public Prosecutor Marshall Lim told the court on Thursday that Quek’s offences were premeditated and his actions were “clearly not (carried out by) a naive and immature person who did not know better".
For instance, Quek had used the mobile application Pinger to mask his actual phone number from the victim by displaying a foreign number .Furthermore, Quek had previously admitted that he made the threats in the hopes of getting close to the victim so as to persuade her to engage in sexual acts with him.
DPP Lim said it does not matter that the victim consented to be photographed in the nude, or that she was a freelance model. “The level of protection accorded to everyone in society is the same … It is only fair”, he added.
The prosecutor also noted that although the photographs were already publicly available on Sammyboy, Quek’s threat to "trade" them served to “open up another access point" on the internet. Quek’s actions were “perpetuating the harassment”, DPP Lim said.
In sentencing Quek, District Judge Lim Keng Yeow said the threats made by Quek were clearly not idle in nature, as Quek "did everything he could to give the victim reason to accede to his demands". "There was clearly a measure of calculation, deception and premeditation" involved, Judge Lim added.
The judge also noted that while Quek had a clean record and had only just reached adulthood, a custodial sentence is necessary, as "the serious nature of the threat and the manner in which the offence was carried out make probation clearly inappropriate".
For his offence, Quek could have been jailed for up to 2 years, and fined.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/student-gets-10-weeks/2048002.html
By Vanessa Paige Chelvan
POSTED: 13 Aug 2015 17:44
SINGAPORE: A 21-year-old man was on Thursday (Aug 13) sentenced to 10 weeks’ jail for threatening to trade nude photographs of his victim publicly.
Winfred Quek Xiu Zhi, a student, had deceived his 20-year-old victim into believing that he could help to remove nude photographs of her that had been posted online by an unknown party. According to court documents, the victim had engaged in several nude photoshoots with various photographers between 2012 and 2013.
In August 2013, Quek contacted the victim using a foreign number and claimed that he could help to remove leaked photographs of her in the nude from the Sammyboy online forum, where they had been uploaded.
Quek also falsely told the victim that he had spent about S$10,000 over 5 months between August 2013 and January 2014, to remove her nude photographs from the website, and asked her for compensation in the form of sexual favours.
The victim agreed but subsequently changed her mind, angering Quek who urged her to “limit the damage” which had been caused by the leaked photographs. The victim told Quek to stop pestering her, saying: “I don’t care anymore. Just leave me alone.”
In an exchange with the victim via Whatsapp on Jan 5, 2014, Quek told her: “Good job. You just antagonised the LAST person you should on earth … Remember, you brought this upon yourself … You will one day remember your stupidity.”
Deputy Public Prosecutor Marshall Lim told the court on Thursday that Quek’s offences were premeditated and his actions were “clearly not (carried out by) a naive and immature person who did not know better".
For instance, Quek had used the mobile application Pinger to mask his actual phone number from the victim by displaying a foreign number .Furthermore, Quek had previously admitted that he made the threats in the hopes of getting close to the victim so as to persuade her to engage in sexual acts with him.
DPP Lim said it does not matter that the victim consented to be photographed in the nude, or that she was a freelance model. “The level of protection accorded to everyone in society is the same … It is only fair”, he added.
The prosecutor also noted that although the photographs were already publicly available on Sammyboy, Quek’s threat to "trade" them served to “open up another access point" on the internet. Quek’s actions were “perpetuating the harassment”, DPP Lim said.
In sentencing Quek, District Judge Lim Keng Yeow said the threats made by Quek were clearly not idle in nature, as Quek "did everything he could to give the victim reason to accede to his demands". "There was clearly a measure of calculation, deception and premeditation" involved, Judge Lim added.
The judge also noted that while Quek had a clean record and had only just reached adulthood, a custodial sentence is necessary, as "the serious nature of the threat and the manner in which the offence was carried out make probation clearly inappropriate".
For his offence, Quek could have been jailed for up to 2 years, and fined.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/student-gets-10-weeks/2048002.html
