One posed as a woman and coaxed two male victims to strip for him in front of their webcams.
The other posed as a trained nurse to trick women into letting him molest them without them putting up a fight.
The former, Alexander Soh Zhi Ren, 22, recorded his victims' indecent exposure without their knowledge. He extorted a total of $6,700 from them.
The latter, Mohamed Rizuan Rahim (right), 28, deceived six victims, one of whom was only 13, between November 2010 and July last year.
The two wolves in disguise faced their day in court yesterday, with Soh pleading guilty to 10 charges, four of which were for extortion and attempted extortion. He will be sentenced on July 13.
Rizuan was jailed 10 years and ordered to be given 16 strokes of the cane after pleading guilty to six counts of outrage of modesty, two counts of sexual assault and one count of insulting the modesty of a woman.
She was chatting with her three children at the doorstep of her ground-floor flat in Boon Lay when a neighbour came looking for her fiance, who was not at home.
Madam Wirdawati Che Muning, 37, had no idea why, but the neighbour, Feizal Abu Bakar (below right), got angry and slapped her on the face.
The slap was so hard that she fell to the ground.
Feizal, 28, then whipped out a long, black samurai sword hanging behind his back and swung it at her. He slashed her with the 40cm blade on her leg, head, back and hands.
Yesterday, he was sentenced to 18 months' jail and two strokes of the cane for hurting Madam Wirdawati as well as his Indonesian wife, who had taken out a personal protection order against him.
Man sentenced over online nude video extortion scam
SINGAPORE: The mastermind of an internet love scam was on Friday sentenced to five years' jail and five strokes of the cane.
Twenty-two-year-old Alexander Soh Zhi Ren (right) [picture from The New Paper, 5 July] had pleaded guilty and was convicted on July 4 for plotting an online extortion scam.
In February, Soh was charged along with his girlfriend, Yap Siew Ting, now 17, whom he roped in to help execute the ploy.
The pair extorted S$150,000 from a 22-year-old man and attempted to extort S$10,000 from a 24-year-old man.
They had threatened to upload the men's nude videos if they did not pay up.
The 22-year-old victim made 89 fund transfers amounting to S$97,350, before he finally made a police report.
Soh also admitted to extorting a total of S$3,000 from two other victims.
The victims' identities cannot be revealed due to a court order.
Besides these charges, Soh was also sentenced to a range of one to three months for shop thefts (two counts), dishonestly receiving and disposing stolen items (two counts) and forging a cheque.
For being absent without leave for more than 18 months when he was a full-time National Serviceman in the Singapore Civil Defence Force, Soh was sentenced to nine month's jail.
Of the 10 charges prosecution proceeded with, District Judge See Kee Oon ordered three to be served consecutively.
Thirteen other charges were taken into consideration.
In mitigation, Soh told the court that he has not seen his father for more than four months and that no family member turned up for his case on Friday.
"This is really a wake-up call for me," said Soh.
But his pleas cut no ice with district judge See Kee Oon, who listed the aggravating factors.
The judge said Soh committed numerous offences across three "broad categories" over a prolonged period, where "large amounts were involved".
"The extortion and attempted extortion offences under Section 384 and 385 of the Penal Code were the most serious, attracting mandatory minimum terms of imprisonment and caning."
Judge See added that the extortion offences were carried out systematically, planned and premeditated and the sum involved in the blackmail scheme was significant.
He also pointed out that Soh was motivated by greed and that he had capitalised on the embarrassment that might be caused to the victims who were manipulated and deceived.
To date, no restitution has been made to any of the victims.
And to make matters worse, the judge noted that Soh "had no qualms in influencing his own girlfriend, almost five years his junior" in collaborating with him.
Given these, the judge said a deterrent sentence is called for.
In June, Soh's girlfriend Yap was put on a two-year probation and ordered by the court to serve 130 hours of community service.
Her mother also has to post a bond of S$5,000 to ensure her good behaviour.
One-minute news segment from Singapore TV station Channel NewsAsia (13 July 2012) which is an abbreviated version of the above report. It does not contain any information not included above, but does carry a different picture of the offender.
HERE IS THE CLIP:
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Tang Jia Min, 23, received a jail term of six years and three months, as well as six strokes of the cane. 19-year-old Ho Wei Quan was sentenced to five years' jail and six strokes of the cane. 22-year-old Lewis Wee Jun Jie was sentenced to four years and 10 months' jail and six strokes of the cane.
Chong Rui Hong, 20, was given the lightest sentence - of four years jail and three strokes of the cane. The district judge described his culpability as "slightly lower" compared with his fellow accomplices.
The four were members of an unlawful assembly that caused grievous hurt to 19-year-old Darren Ng Wei Jie at the foyer of Downtown East on October 30, 2010.
One or more members of the group stabbed and slashed the Republic Polytechnic student with knives, choppers and a screwdriver.
Ng, a member of the "Fong Hong San" gang, died of multiple injuries.
Previously in mitigation, the lawyers of Ho, Wee and Chong highlighted the relatively minor role their clients played in the incident. However, the court heard that Tang had played a "very instrumental part".
Deputy Public Prosecutor Peggy Pao emphasised that Tang was not a bystander and was "very much part of the active group that confronted the victim". The court also heard that Tang had a string of previous offences, including snatch theft and mischief.
One-minute news segment from Singapore TV station Channel NewsAsia (18 July 2012) which is an abbreviated version of the above report. Includes a picture of each of the offenders sentenced.
HERE IS THE CLIP:
IMPORTANT: Copyright in this video material rests with the original copyright holders. This brief excerpt is reproduced under the "fair use" doctrine for private, non-profit, historical research and education purposes only. It must not be redistributed or republished in any commercial context.
RELATED VIDEO CLIP
for private, non-profit, historical research and education purposes only. It must not be redistributed or republished in any commercial context.
