Man had sex with 14-year-old GF and shared her obscene videos which circulated in her school

Shaffiq Alkhatib
The Straits Times
November 20, 2020

A man who had sex with his then 14-year-old girlfriend broke up with her as he felt the minor was "not independent" and kept texting him when he played video games.

Shortly after the break-up, Dylan Tan Sheng Xuan, now 21, contacted one of the girl's schoolmates, claiming that his former girlfriend had bad-mouthed her.

Tan also sent that schoolmate obscene videos and photographs of his former girlfriend. The schoolmate then transferred some of the files to another schoolmate and the images were later shared with more people.

Tan's former girlfriend found out that there was an obscene video of her circulating at school and became so upset that she refused to leave her classroom during recess. She finally lodged a police report on Jan 6 this year.

Tan, who appeared in court via video-link on Friday (Nov 20), pleaded guilty to one count each of having sex with the minor and sexually exploiting her.

Defence lawyer S. S. Dhillon said that Tan's mother had not bailed him out as she wanted to teach her son a lesson.

Details about the victim and her school cannot be revealed owing to a gag order to protect her identity.

Tan had befriended the victim through social media in December last year and was aware that she was only 14 years old at the time.

About four days later, he asked her to be his girlfriend and she agreed.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Joshua Lim said: "One or two days later, the accused sent the victim naked photos of himself, and asked her to send (him back) naked photos of herself. He thought this arrangement was fair. Initially, she refused."

The girl finally gave in to Tan's repeated requests and sent him both nude pictures and videos of herself.

The pair also went to Tan's home in December last year, where he took the girl's virginity and had unprotected sex with her. They later broke up and he contacted the girl's schoolmate.

On Jan 3, the victim found out that there was an obscene video of her circulating around her school. DPP Lim said that the girl "felt stupid and lost confidence".

The court heard that she also suffered from nightmares and distanced herself from others.

"The victim became depressed and informed the school counsellor... The discipline master was also informed, and the victim was asked to consider lodging a police report, which she did," said the DPP.

On Friday, the court called for a report to assess Tan's suitability for probation. He will be sentenced on Dec 10.

For having sex with a minor, an offender can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined.

The Straits Times

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