SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): A man had consensual sex with two other men after meeting them on dating app Grindr, before extorting $800 from them.
Davin Lian Ke Xiang told one of his victims he had recorded a video of them having sex, and he received S$700 from the man after threatening to disseminate the clip on social media.
Lian made the second victim hand him $100 after threatening to make a police report that he had been forced to perform sexual acts on the man.
On Thursday, Lian, 25, was sentenced to three years and six months’ jail, and three strokes of the cane.
He had pleaded guilty to two counts of extortion and one count of assaulting a police officer.
In February 2022, Lian got to know the first victim, a 30-year-old man, on Grindr. They met at Lian’s rented unit later that month, and he performed oral sex on the man.
Thereafter, Lian told the man he wanted a new television set that cost $700, but the man refused to buy it for him.
Lian then claimed he had recorded a video of them having sex and threatened to disseminate the clip on social media.
Feeling afraid, the victim left the unit, but Lian followed him and continued to pester him for cash.
The victim finally transferred $700 to him at an automated teller machine.
Lian invited the second victim to his home on Oct 24, 2022 and performed acts including oral sex on the 25-year-old man.
He later told the victim he wanted to make a police report, claiming the latter had forced him to perform such acts.
Lian also told the man their actions had been recorded by a closed-circuit television camera.
“The second victim was shocked because the sexual contact had been consensual, and he tried to reason with the accused,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor David Menon.
“The accused responded by demanding $5,000 from the second victim in exchange for not lodging the police report. The second victim did not have $5,000.”
Lian then told the man to go to an apparel store and buy him $3,000 worth of products.
He eventually settled for $100 in cash, as the man did not have much money and even showed Lian his bank account balance.
DPP Menon said the second victim, who is not Singaporean, transferred the money to Lian as he felt threatened and was afraid his work would be affected if there was a police report against him.
The DPP did not disclose who alerted the authorities about Lian, but on Oct 26, 2022, a team of police officers went to his home to arrest him. He resisted and bit a policeman’s right leg, causing it to bleed.
The officer had a tetanus injection and was also screened for infectious diseases including hepatitis and human immunodeficiency virus or HIV.
Test results came back negative, and he was placed on two days of medical leave.
Lian’s case was the second one reported in The Straits Times this week involving an offender who was convicted after making false allegations over sexual crimes.
In an unrelated case on Wednesday, Siti Junaidah Azahar, 22, pleaded guilty to one count of giving false information to a public servant.
She had consensual sex with two of her colleagues in 2021, before claiming they had raped her. She will be sentenced in November.
