Yahoo Finance Man admits to blackmailing teen girl for explicit videos
SINGAPORE — After a man received a nude video of a teenage girl from her, he used it to threaten her into sending more videos of a more explicit nature.
Chen Ziheng, 22, told the girl, 17, that if she did not send him the videos, he would leak her original video to her followers on Instagram.
The Singaporean man pleaded guilty to one count each of molest, criminal intimidation and procuring the commission of an obscene act by a young person, with two charges of a similar nature to be taken into consideration for his sentencing.
Chen's sentencing has been adjourned to 21 April for the prosecution to check on a current court martial that he is serving.
At the time of the offences between 2018 and 2019, Chen was 19 while the victim was 14. She cannot be named due to a gag order protecting her identity.
The two met in June 2018 while the victim was socialising with her friends at a McDonald's outlet at Jurong Point Shopping Centre. They began chatting on Instagram.
Between June and December 2018, the two met again at the same McDonald's outlet when Chen complimented the victim's breasts. He stared at her breasts while shaking her hand "vigorously", the prosecution told the court.
After the victim declined Chen's repeated requests to jump on the spot, he pulled her into a hug. The victim felt very uncomfortable and pushed the accused away while laughing awkwardly.
Chen had been aroused and wanted to feel her breasts.
Sometime later, the girl voluntarily sent a nude video of herself, lasting some 10 seconds, to Chen via Instagram.
On 6 January 2019, at around 11pm, Chen chatted the girl on Instagram, asking her to send another illicit photograph or video of herself. The girl refused but Chen insisted.
He threatened to send the nude video of her to her followers on Instagram. Alarmed, the girl relented and sent three videos of about 15 seconds each.
The girl's stepfather made a police report on 31 January and the man was later arrested, with his phone seized.
Chen faces a jail term of up to two years, and/or a fine, for criminal intimidation. For molest, he faces a jail term of up to two years, and/or a fine, or with caning. For procuring an obscene act from a person under 16, an offence under the Children and Young Persons Act, he may be jailed up to seven years, and/or fined up to $10,000.
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