SINGAPORE, June 18 — A 25-year-old man was sentenced to two years and 11 months’ jail and a S$1,000 fine today for exploiting a child while arranging for sexual services. He had set up a 13-year-old girl to engage in sex acts with another man in exchange for video footage of it.
When the other man demanded cash for the video clips, Jonathan Ching Wang De posed as a woman online in order to lure a third man into giving his accomplice the money.
Ching, a Singaporean, pleaded guilty last month to recruiting a child for sexual exploitation under the Protection from Human Trafficking Act, cheating, and transmitting an obscene image.
The victim, who cannot be named due to a court order to protect her identity, is the youngest victim involved in a prosecution to date under this Act.
For sentencing purposes, District Judge Marvin Bay took into consideration five other similar charges, including procuring another 19-year-old girl for prostitution.
Today, the judge noted that Ching had shown “a troubling degree of grooming and psychological manipulation”, and added that Ching had insisted that the girl meet his accomplice for a “particularly degrading form” of sex act after she was initially reluctant to do so.
“It is incumbent on the courts to impose an appropriately severe sentence to deter offenders who seek out such victims and prey on their inexperience and youth, especially given the ready access to victims and the anonymity afforded to such offenders by the internet,” District Judge Bay added.
“I hope (Ching) is aware of the enormity of his offending… You’re a young man, I hope you can take this as a lesson.”
Ching’s co-accused, Mohammed Ayub PN Shahul Hameed, 30, was jailed for two years in August 2019 after pleading guilty to sexual assault by penetration.
For recruiting a child for sexual exploitation, Ching could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined up to S$100,000.
For cheating, he could have been jailed for up to 10 years and fined.
He could also have been jailed for up to three months or fined, or both, for transmitting an obscene image.
What happened
The court heard that Ching contacted Ayub through classified ads site Locanto after seeing Ayub’s request for sexual services.
Ching told him that he could arrange for girls to provide him with the services and that he did not want money for this. Instead, he wanted Ayub to film the sex act and send him the video clips.
Ching then recruited a girl for this arrangement. However, Ayub did not send him the video and demanded S$750 for the footage.
In response, Ching offered Ayub a second girl on the condition that Ayub film her and send him the clip. This led to Ching recruiting the 13-year-old victim to meet Ayub.
Ching posed as a woman on Instagram on February 4, 2018, asking if the girl was keen to model for him. She declined.
He then sent her another message in March, asking for her age and if she wanted to model for cash. When she told him she was 14, he responded with “wow” and “young” and said that he was willing to pay her more for nude photographs.
She turned him down again but he adopted another persona, eventually persuading her to send him her nude photos and a video. She then agreed to perform sexual acts as she needed money at the time.
She was at first not keen on meeting Ayub but later agreed. She separately told Ayub, who had promised to pay her S$1,500, that she was 18 years old. He ultimately did not pay her.
They met in June 2018 and Ayub sent Ching a one-minute video clip as asked. Ching asked for the full video but Ayub demanded cash or a second meeting with the victim.
Ching then lied to her that Ayub had threatened to send the videos to her Instagram followers and post it on pornography websites unless she meet Ayub again or pay him S$300.
When Ching’s efforts at manipulating her failed, he posed as a girl named Crystal on Tumblr to lure other unsuspecting men into his scheme.
A 23-year-old man came across the fake profile and transferred S$150 to a bank account provided by Ching for sexual services.
Ching demanded another S$300 for extra services and sent him some obscene images, then provided Ayub’s bank account number. The man transferred the cash there.
Ayub then blocked Ching from all forms of contact and did not send him any more videos. — TODAY
