Man gets jail for sending intimate video of girlfriend to couple he met on swinging app

SINGAPORE: A 23-year-old man was on Thursday (Jun 2) sentenced to five weeks' jail for sending a video of his girlfriend having sex with him to a couple he met on a swinging app.

He was also fined S$1,000 for possessing another obscene video of his girlfriend. He pleaded guilty to both charges, and a third charge of having three obscene images was considered for sentencing.

The man cannot be named as it could lead to identification of the victim, who is protected by gag order.

The court heard that he first came across an app for couples to exchange sexual partners or engage in threesomes between February and March 2020.

He matched with another couple through the app, and they continued their conversation on Telegram.

He initially contacted the other couple using his own Telegram account, but later also contacted them while identifying himself as his girlfriend, using an account he had created.

On Jun 18, 2020, while impersonating his girlfriend, the man sent the other couple a video of him and the then 20-year-old victim having sex at a staircase landing.

The victim was identifiable in the video, which captured the lower half of her body exposed. The video was filmed with her consent, but she had asked the offender not to send it to anyone else.

The victim only found out that the video had been sent to others when the man, who was part of the other couple, contacted her on Twitter and asked her about it. 

Upon learning that the video had been distributed to others, the victim felt distressed, said Deputy Public Prosecutor Melissa Heng.

Additionally, the woman who was part of the other couple had sent explicit photos and videos to both Telegram accounts used by the offender.

This was because she was under the impression that she was exchanging explicit content with both the offender and the victim, said the prosecutor.

The victim lodged a police report on Sep 2, 2020. The offender's phone was seized, and an obscene screen recording of a video call between him and the victim was discovered during investigations.

The prosecution sought five to six weeks' jail and a fine of S$1,000 to S$2,000, arguing that the sexual acts shown in the video would cause more harm to the victim than the offender.

Ms Heng also highlighted the offender's breach of his girlfriend's trust, and his motive of gaining the trust of the other couple, which led to the woman sending him explicit content.

She acknowledged that there was no malice in the offender's actions, and that the video was not uploaded on a public platform.

Defence lawyer Mervyn Foo asked for a similar sentence, saying that his client was a "sensible boy" who offended in a "moment of folly" due to his immaturity and poor impulse control.

He argued that the offender and victim had agreed to experiment with swinging and that the offender sent the video to a couple with whom he believed the victim would be open to exploring sexual relations.

He said that his client had apologised to the victim and her family when they confronted him before a police report was made. He later also wrote her an apology letter.

For the obscene video found in his client's phone, Mr Foo argued that this was intended for personal gratification only and that there was no commercial element to it.

The lawyer said this was his client's first brush with the law, and he was pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity.

The penalty for intentionally distributing an intimate recording of a person without their consent, while having reason to believe this would cause them distress, is up to five years' jail, a fine, caning or any combination of these.

The offence of possessing an obscene film is punishable with up to six months' jail, a fine of up to S$20,000 or both.