SINGAPORE: A full-time national serviceman came across child pornography while using an online content hosting service in 2019 and started searching for such materials on the internet.
Wang Dian was later found with 57 video clips of children engaging in sexual activities.
The 27-year-old Singaporean, who completed his national service in January 2020, was sentenced to 15 months and two weeks’ jail on Aug 16 after he pleaded guilty to one count of being in possession of child pornography.
Wang had downloaded them and other sexually explicit materials for his own viewing.
Court documents did not disclose how his offences came to light, but he was arrested at around 11pm on Sept 9, 2020.
He was then found with the incriminating video clips in his possession.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Selene Yap said that some of the videos involved two very young children who were between three and five years old.
She told the court that being in possession of child abuse materials is not a victimless crime and urged the court to sentence him to up to 22 months’ jail and three strokes of the cane.
Stressing that the prevalence of child abuse material is increasing with greater technological access, she added: “These children not only have to deal with the abuse they have suffered, they must also live with the knowledge that a permanent record of that abuse remains in circulation on the internet for the sexual pleasure of others like the accused.
“A sufficiently deterrent imprisonment term with the imposition of caning is necessary to send a clear and unequivocal signal of the court’s disapprobation of such perverse habits.”
Defence lawyer Raphael Louis from Ray Louis Law told the court that Wang has no paedophilic tendencies and pleaded for him to be given a sentence of 7½ months’ jail.
The lawyer said that Wang had been diagnosed with persistent depressive disorder and added: “Although he sought professional help and treatment, his mental health did not improve over time.
“Between September 2020 and February 2024, (his) mental health declined severely as he suffered in agony and uncertainty, not knowing when he might be prosecuted for the present offence.”
The lawyer also told the court that Wang committed the offence at a “relatively young” age of 22 years old and had done so in a “lapse of better judgment”.
Other men have also been jailed recently over offences linked to child pornography.
On Aug 15, Eugene Quake, 40, who downloaded child sexual abuse material and made obscene films at his condominium unit, was sentenced to 13 months’ jail.
In 2020, the teacher joined several Telegram chat groups where members frequently shared homosexual pornography with one another.
Some members would also share videos and photos of child sexual abuse material, which would automatically be downloaded to Quake’s phone after he viewed them.
In another case, Chong Xuan Ming, 38, was jailed for 18 months on July 24 for downloading child pornography and voyeuristic material.
The accountant had almost 4,000 pictures and videos of child sexual abuse material on his computer, with some depicting torture and physical abuse.
On Oct 6, 2021, officers from the Specialised Crime Branch of the Criminal Investigation Department raided his home upon receiving information that he possessed child abuse materials.
For being in possession of child pornography, an offender can be jailed for up to five years and fined or caned. - The Straits Times/ANN
