Sentences upped for 2 who distributed nude images in separate cases
Two men who distributed nude photos and videos of others without their consent in unrelated cases had their sentences drastically increased by the High Court on Thursday.
In one case, a 27-year-old man, D, who posted a photo on Facebook of his wife having sex with her work supervisor had his jail sentence increased from 13 weeks to 18 months and 1 week.
In a separate case, H, 40, who attacked his wife’s suspected lover had his sentence increase from three years’ jail and four strokes of the cane to four years’ and three months’ jail and six stokes of the cane.
H was also fined $1,500.
The heavier punishments for both men came after the prosecution appealed against their original sentences.
Both men cannot be named due to gag orders to protect the victims’ identities.
D, who had pleaded guilty to one count each of theft and distributing an intimate image, suspected his wife of infidelity, and on Feb 6, 2020, snatched her phone from her hands and ran off with it.
He found videos of her fully naked and a photo of her having sex with her supervisor, and saved these on his phone. He returned his wife’s phone to her without telling her he had saved the intimate contents.
On Feb 12, 2020, at 8am, he posted the picture of his wife having sex with her supervisor on Facebook. He made the image public, naming the supervisor and where he worked in the caption. He also attached pictures of the supervisor and his text conversations with his wife.
Friends of his wife and her supervisor alerted them to the Facebook post, which had gone viral, racking up thousands of likes, shares and comments by 4pm.
Overwhelmed by the attention, D removed the post, but later uploaded it again. This time, his wife’s face was blurred but her naked body and the supervisor’s face remained fully visible. He removed the post one day later.
On Thursday, in increasing the sentence, a panel of three judges led by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon noted that the harm suffered to the wife was plainly serious. The photo used in the first Facebook post was highly intrusive, readily identifiable and was distributed widely, the court said.
Chief Justice Menon added that D acted out of malice, to humiliate and punish his wife for what he regarded as “morally revolting” conduct on her part, as well as to humiliate her supervisor.
In H’s case, he suspected his estranged wife of having an extramarital affair and tracked down the man he believed was involved with her and assaulted him.
After the attack, in which his wife’s uncle, cousin and the cousin’s girlfriend also took part, H stripped the victim and used his mobile phone to record his bare genitals.
H then sent the video clip to 500 of the victim’s contacts via WhatsApp. They included his colleagues, friends and neighbours.
Chief Justice Menon said H’s motive was to humiliate and punish the victim for his relationship with his wife and noted that H’s method of obtaining the video was forceful and violent.
The court gave its decision on the new sentences after setting up a sentencing framework for this offence to guide judges in future cases and ensure consistency in sentencing.
The framework set out various sentencing ranges for such offences depending on the degree of harm caused and the level of culpability of the offender.
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