Chua Wang Cheng disliked the victim as he felt he was arrogant and sarcastic towards him. - ST
SINGAPORE: A man created fake Facebook accounts impersonating someone he disliked and used them to share anti-Islam content.
As a result, the victim of this impersonation was hauled up for police investigations at least twice.
The actual person behind the accounts, Chua Wang Cheng, 33, was taken to task on Nov 18. He pleaded guilty to one charge under the Protection from Harassment Act.
He also admitted to two charges of sharing content with the deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of Muslims. Four other similar charges will be taken into consideration for his sentencing.
The court heard that Chua was doing his national service in 2011 when he met the victim, who cannot be named due to a gag order.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Samuel Chew said Chua disliked the victim as he felt he was arrogant and sarcastic towards him.
In February 2019, Chua created a Facebook account using the victim’s name and photograph. He also added 627 other users as Facebook “friends”.
Chua uploaded photos of the victim and documents related to him, including a testimonial and letter of commendation from the Singapore Armed Forces.
Several Facebook users commented in September that year that the account was fake. Chua then deactivated the account.
An anonymous complaint also claimed that the account had several posts which incited hatred among the different races and religions in Singapore.
The victim was then interviewed by the police. He said the Facebook account did not belong to him and made a police report the same day.
Chua subsequently reactivated the Facebook account, though it was later closed by the social media company as it violated its community standards.
After this, Chua created a Facebook account with the victim’s name and photograph yet again.
Using this second account, he shared two YouTube videos with anti-Islam content in November 2019.
According to the Majilis Ugama Islam Singapura (Muis), which assessed the videos, one of the videos was made with the intention of disparaging Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.
Muis said the other video contained derogatory statements about Islam, Prophet Muhammad and the Muslim community at large.
DPP Chew said while Chua did not produce the videos, he shared the videos with the deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of Muslim Facebook users.
Three people lodged police reports against the second Facebook account for its inflammatory content in October 2020. The victim was called up for investigations again that year.
Court documents did not state how Chua was eventually caught, but he admitted to his offences during police investigations.
DPP Chew said: “(Chua) also admitted that he deliberately posted content under the victim’s name as he did not like the victim.”
Police also found that Chua had sent a WeChat message to an unknown individual saying it “felt really good to post anti-Muslim” content.
The victim said in a police report that he suffered psychological and professional harm due to his impugned reputation.
Speaking through a Mandarin interpreter, Chua said he needed more time to prepare his mitigation plea. He was not represented by a lawyer.
District Judge Carol Ling adjourned his sentencing to Dec 16. - The Straits Times/ANN
