SINGAPORE, May 17 — To blackmail his ex-girlfriend into having sex with him again, Nicholas Koh Wei Xuan sent her a 40-second video that he took without her consent of the two of them engaging in sexual acts.

His phone was seized after his arrest where another sex video of a 17-year-old victim who was filmed without her knowledge was also found, alongside 69 obscene films.

Today, the 25-year-old Singaporean was sentenced to two months and three weeks’ jail in the State Courts, after he pleaded guilty to one charge of criminal intimidation and another charge of making or reproducing obscene films.

Two other charges of similar nature were taken into consideration during sentencing.

Due to a gag order, the location of offences as well as the victims’ names have been omitted to protect their identities.

What happened

Investigations revealed that Koh met his ex-girlfriend, who was 18 then, in April 2019 through the online dating application, OkCupid.

The two started dating in May but broke up sometime in August. During their relationship, Koh admitted to having sexual intercourse twice with the victim in his living room.

He also admitted to having recorded a 40-second video — without the victim’s consent — of the two of them engaging in sexual acts on the second occasion.

On the evening of Oct 12, Koh saw the victim with one of his friends, whom she was dating at the time, and wanted to "disturb” her.

Koh then contacted her on the messaging app Telegram where he sent the sex video to her.

It was not stated in court documents if he did this out of jealousy.

Alarmed at seeing the video for the first time, the victim told Koh to delete it. However, he refused to do so unless she had sex with him again.

He also threatened to send the video to the victim’s then-boyfriend.

Koh did this with the intention of causing alarm to the victim and threatening injury to her reputation, stated Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Tay Jia En in court.

Koh was arrested two days later, on the same day his ex-girlfriend filed a police report.

His phone was seized and sent for forensic examination, where investigators found 69 obscene films as well as another sex video of a 17-year-old victim who was filmed without her knowledge.

Police investigations revealed that Koh and this second victim were in a "friends-with-benefits” relationship and had met each other through the dating app, Tinder.

Koh and the second victim had sexual intercourse once where he used his mobile phone to record an almost 33 minutes-long video of their sexual act without audio.

Koh admitted to the police that he recorded the second victim without her knowledge and had meant to keep it for his own viewing pleasure.

During the proceedings, DPP Tay addressed the defence’s request for a proposed probation suitability assessment put forth by Koh’s lawyer, Kalidass Murugaiyan of Kalidass Law Corporation.

Probation does not result in a recorded criminal conviction and allows offenders to continue with their education or employment while serving their sentences.

DPP Tay argued that a custodial sentence in this case places "emphasis on deterrence” which is appropriate. Even though Koh had demonstrated remorse by pleading guilty, he has "taken no action” to leave his errant ways behind.

DPP Tay also stressed that from what he had observed, it is clear that Koh has a problem with pornography and has a "fetish for recording himself”.

In delivering his sentence, District Judge Shawn Ho noted that the defence had set out a "very comprehensive” mitigation plea which detailed what Koh had been doing to improve himself since his arrest in 2019.

However, he agreed with the prosecution that due to the facts of the case, the call for a probation suitability report would not be appropriate.

Anyone guilty of criminal intimidation can be jailed up to two years or fined, or both.

Those found guilty of making or reproducing any obscene film can be fined up to S$40,000 or jailed up to two years, or both. — TODAY