Man harassed married woman with lewd and threatening messages after she ended affair

Shaffiq Alkhatib
The Straits Times
Oct 1, 2021

When his lover ended her extramarital affair with him, Ritchie Richard Li Qingping harassed her with lewd and threatening messages.

Among other things, he sent a photo of her taken when they were intimate in a hotel room.

The Singaporean, now 40, was fined $4,000 on Thursday (Sept 30) after he admitted to a harassment charge.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Goh Yong Ngee said although Li sent messages on WhatsApp, the 41-year-old woman did not block him as she was afraid he would look for her at her home or workplace.

The prosecutor added: "As a result of her fear, she also quit her new job. The complainant was also concerned about an intimate video recorded while they were having an affair."

In 2018, the woman ended the affair, which had started in 2016.

She later severed all contact with Li after finding out that his wife knew about the affair.

But on Aug 18 last year, he sent his former lover text messages via WhatsApp. He continued doing so even though she did not reply to them.

He also tried to call her but she did not respond.

Three days later, Li sent the woman a picture of her on a hotel bed, taken while they were having sex.

He asked the woman why she did not want to be together with him.

The court heard that she rejected his advances and told him to look after his family.

Li then threatened the woman on Sept 1 last year, saying that he would look for her if she continued to ignore him.

She replied the next day and told him to not text her again.

Li ignored her pleas and told her: "Peace is earned."

The court heard that he sent the woman lewd messages on Sept 4 last year.

DPP Goh said: "The accused continued to send spam messages... till Sept 13, 2020. The complainant replied... telling the accused to stop contacting her and to focus on his children.

"The complainant explicitly told the accused that she was frightened by what the accused was doing."

The woman finally lodged a police report on Sept 15 last year and officers arrested Li later that day.