SINGAPORE, Aug 29 — After a woman declined to have sex with him, a 23-year-old man wielded a chopper at her to try to force her to comply.

Earlier, he also threatened to share nude photos of the woman and pointed a Swiss army knife at her to get her to agree to his demands.

On Wednesday (August 28), the man was sentenced to three years and 20 weeks’ jail and six strokes of the cane.

He pleaded guilty to one charge of molesting someone while voluntarily attempting to cause hurt, two charges of criminal intimidation, and one charge of threatening to distribute intimate images or recordings.

Two charges of criminal intimidation and a charge of molesting someone while attempting to cause hurt were also considered for sentencing.

The woman’s name cannot be named by court order to protect her identity. The woman’s age has been redacted from court documents. TODAY has not published the man’s name either as this, along with details of their relationship, could lead to the identification of the victim.

What happened

On May 4, 2023, at around 10.30pm, the man met the victim outside of school. The man claimed that he wanted to talk to the victim about some rumours regarding them and asked the victim to follow him into a private hire vehicle.

The victim agreed as she thought the man wanted to have a meal with her.

During the journey, the victim discovered that the private hire vehicle was going to the man’s residence.

She was reluctant to go there. However, the man told the victim that he had recorded nude photos of her and that he would send those photos to her father if she did not comply.

The man had obtained nude photos of the victim when he had asked her to remove her clothing during a video call, assuring her that the call was not being recorded.

Because the victim was worried that the man would carry out his threat, she followed him back to his residence.

They reached the man’s residence at about 10.43pm.

While the man and the victim were in the lift, the man took out a Swiss army knife and extended the knife blade.

When they exited the lift, the man pointed the knife at the victim and told her to follow him.

The victim was afraid that the man would use the knife to hurt her and followed him to his residence.

When the man and the victim reached his house, they greeted the man’s grandmother and entered his bedroom.

The man removed the victim’s handphone so she could not call for help.

Between 10.43pm and 11.40pm, the man tried to talk to the victim, but she kept quiet and ignored him.

Angered, the man seized a chopper that was inside his bedroom and pointed it at the victim.

He told the victim to sit on his bed, and the victim complied out of fear. The man asked the victim to have sex with him, but the victim refused.

The man then pushed the victim down on the bed, lifted her shirt and kissed the victim.

In response to the cries of the victim, the man stopped kissing her and told her to go home.

However, when the victim was about to leave, the man changed his mind and told her to stop.

He placed the chopper next to him and told the victim that he wanted her to perform a sex act.

The victim refused, even after the man forcibly grabbed her head. The man then tried to ask the victim for another sex act, but the victim again refused.

The man, incensed at the victim’s persistent refusals, pushed the victim to the floor and grabbed the chopper.

He made a motion as if to swing the chopper at the victim. However, the victim shouted at him to stop, and the man stopped.

He feared his grandmother would be alerted if there was any further commotion.

He returned the victim’s phone and finally allowed the victim to leave.

The man appeared in the court through a video link and spoke through a court interpreter.

During the mitigation, the man said that he hoped the judge will help him turn over "a new leaf”.

He added that he readily pleaded guilty and did not engage a lawyer to show his sincerity.

"I want to make up for my wrongdoings. I accept whatever punishment your honour is going to impose.”

For criminal intimidation, the man could have been jailed for up to two years, fined or both.

For knowingly threatening to distribute intimate recordings or photos without consent and to cause humiliation, the man could have been jailed for up to five years, or fined, or caned, or with any combination of such punishments.

For molesting someone while voluntarily attempting to cause hurt, the man could have been jailed for up to 10 years and caned. — TODAY