SINGAPORE: A man who is serving a 13-year prison term for his role in a wife-sharing rape ring was sentenced to another eight weeks' jail on Tuesday (Dec 23).
The 47-year-old admitted to posting intimate photos of women on the Sammyboy forum without their consent between 2012 and 2019.
These offences took place after his involvement in the rape ring.
They showed a "sustained pattern of offending that continued well beyond" the period of the rape conspiracy, said Deputy Principal District Judge Luke Tan.
The man pleaded guilty to one charge of circulating obscene images.
Seven other charges were considered in sentencing – six more counts of circulating obscene images, and one count of possessing 118 obscene films in 2020.
The man, who worked as a finance executive before going to jail, cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the identities of the victims.
He was referred to as O in the rape ring case that involved seven men drugging and sexually assaulting each other's wives.
O raped a drugged woman, who was a wife of a co-conspirator, once in March 2011. He was one of five men to rape the same woman.
The offences came to light only in January 2020 when the woman found explicit photos of herself in her husband's phone that indicated the involvement of other men.
O was the only one of the seven men to claim trial. He was convicted in 2023 and lost his appeal earlier this year.
He was given 12 strokes of the cane in addition to imprisonment.
The court heard that in April 2010, O started a thread titled "wife fantasy" on the Sammyboy forum.
He made the first post inviting other like-minded men with fantasies about their wives and other men's wives to contact him.
He said he wanted to "see if anyone is interested in sharing stories or pictures and videos but on a more discreet basis" and asked those with similar fantasies to send him a private message.
From 2012, O also posted in the thread and chatted with other forum users about his sexual fantasies, which included sex with the drugged or unconscious wives of other men.
Between 2012 and 2019, the man posted images from his recordings of sexual encounters with women in a Sammyboy thread titled "wifey pics to share".
He would mask the women's faces with a white circle but leave their private parts exposed. He also watermarked the images with a "copyright" phrase.
By the time investigations started in 2020, several of the image links no longer worked. Investigators were able to retrieve 19 images, of which 12 were considered obscene.
In one instance, O posted at least four obscene images to the thread and added the introduction: "Just wanna share some pics of my wife and hear comments from bros here."
Deputy Public Prosecutor Sruthi Boppana urged the court to jail the man for eight to 10 weeks, with the sentence to start after his current prison term has been completed.
She noted that the women in the images were in an intimate relationship with the man and trusted that he would not use their images in this manner.
"The images were utilised to lure other like-minded individuals to circulate similar compromising materials online," said Ms Boppana.
"The images received traction, with a total of 129 replies to this specific thread alone, and more than 2,500 responses to the overall forum posts relating to, inter alia, wife-swapping."
Defence lawyer Tan Jia Yi sought eight weeks' jail to run at the same time as the man's ongoing prison sentence.
She said that "despite everything that has happened", O's wife remained "supportive" of him. "He's taking time in prison to reflect on actions and work on himself," added the lawyer.
Judge Tan ordered the man's prison sentences to run consecutively, as concurrent sentences meant he would not face any consequences for his sustained criminal conduct.
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The 47-year-old admitted to posting intimate photos of women on the Sammyboy forum without their consent between 2012 and 2019.
These offences took place after his involvement in the rape ring.
They showed a "sustained pattern of offending that continued well beyond" the period of the rape conspiracy, said Deputy Principal District Judge Luke Tan.
The man pleaded guilty to one charge of circulating obscene images.
Seven other charges were considered in sentencing – six more counts of circulating obscene images, and one count of possessing 118 obscene films in 2020.
The man, who worked as a finance executive before going to jail, cannot be named due to a gag order to protect the identities of the victims.
He was referred to as O in the rape ring case that involved seven men drugging and sexually assaulting each other's wives.
O raped a drugged woman, who was a wife of a co-conspirator, once in March 2011. He was one of five men to rape the same woman.
The offences came to light only in January 2020 when the woman found explicit photos of herself in her husband's phone that indicated the involvement of other men.
O was the only one of the seven men to claim trial. He was convicted in 2023 and lost his appeal earlier this year.
He was given 12 strokes of the cane in addition to imprisonment.
Related:
POSTS ON SAMMYBOY FORUM
The court heard that in April 2010, O started a thread titled "wife fantasy" on the Sammyboy forum.
He made the first post inviting other like-minded men with fantasies about their wives and other men's wives to contact him.
He said he wanted to "see if anyone is interested in sharing stories or pictures and videos but on a more discreet basis" and asked those with similar fantasies to send him a private message.
From 2012, O also posted in the thread and chatted with other forum users about his sexual fantasies, which included sex with the drugged or unconscious wives of other men.
Between 2012 and 2019, the man posted images from his recordings of sexual encounters with women in a Sammyboy thread titled "wifey pics to share".
He would mask the women's faces with a white circle but leave their private parts exposed. He also watermarked the images with a "copyright" phrase.
By the time investigations started in 2020, several of the image links no longer worked. Investigators were able to retrieve 19 images, of which 12 were considered obscene.
In one instance, O posted at least four obscene images to the thread and added the introduction: "Just wanna share some pics of my wife and hear comments from bros here."
Deputy Public Prosecutor Sruthi Boppana urged the court to jail the man for eight to 10 weeks, with the sentence to start after his current prison term has been completed.
She noted that the women in the images were in an intimate relationship with the man and trusted that he would not use their images in this manner.
"The images were utilised to lure other like-minded individuals to circulate similar compromising materials online," said Ms Boppana.
"The images received traction, with a total of 129 replies to this specific thread alone, and more than 2,500 responses to the overall forum posts relating to, inter alia, wife-swapping."
Defence lawyer Tan Jia Yi sought eight weeks' jail to run at the same time as the man's ongoing prison sentence.
She said that "despite everything that has happened", O's wife remained "supportive" of him. "He's taking time in prison to reflect on actions and work on himself," added the lawyer.
Judge Tan ordered the man's prison sentences to run consecutively, as concurrent sentences meant he would not face any consequences for his sustained criminal conduct.
Continue reading...