SINGAPORE, March 20 — Believing that his girlfriend at the time was cheating on him, Sharizal Saidon used an intimate photograph he had secretly taken of her as his profile picture on a live-streaming application.
The 28-year-old man was sentenced to two years’ jail, six strokes of the cane and a fine of S$30,000 for this offence, as well as three offences under the Moneylenders Act.
He pleaded guilty today to four charges: Two of harassing borrowers, one of assisting with unlicensed moneylending activities and one of distributing an intimate image.
Six other similar charges related to unlicensed moneylending activities were taken into consideration for sentencing.
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The name of his girlfriend cannot be published due to a court order protecting her identity.
Uploading intimate image as profile picture
On Nov 24 in 2020, Sharizal had an argument with his girlfriend of around three months.
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He threatened to post a nude photograph of her online if she did not listen to him. She then stopped arguing with him out of fear.
At around midnight two days later, the couple had another argument because he believed that his girlfriend was having affairs with other men.
Sharizal then told his girlfriend to check his profile picture on the live-streaming app Bigo Live. After checking, the victim realised that he had uploaded a nude image of her as his profile picture on the app.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Tay Zhi Jie said that the girlfriend became alarmed after seeing the profile image. Before that, she had not known that her boyfriend had taken an intimate image of her.
Sharizal then noticed that his girlfriend sent text messages to her friends to seek help and snatched her phone away.
She managed to snatch it back and left him to meet her friends, before making a police report about the incident a few hours later.
Borrower turned harasser
In late 2021, Sharizal borrowed two sums of S$3,000 and S$3,700 from an unlicensed moneylender who called himself “Devin”.
He struggled to repay his loans on a weekly basis and was harassed by Devin in February the next year until he agreed to work for the moneylender.
Sharizal was tasked with taking photographs of the apartment units of the moneylender’s debtors, for which he was paid S$25 to S$30 for each photograph taken.
Then, in October and November 2022 when he became unemployed, he wanted to repay his outstanding debt of around S$3,000 to Devin quickly.
That was when the unlicensed moneylender told him that he could earn more money by splashing paint outside the homes of debtors. Sharizal agreed to do this.
He would receive the address of debtors over WhatsApp and had to take a WhatsApp video of him splashing paint.
On Nov 12 in 2022, Sharizal received instructions from Devin to splash paint at a housing unit in Potong Pasir.
He bought two tins of blue chalk paint from e-commerce site Carousell for S$43. DPP Tay told the court that Sharizal bought this type of paint because he thought that it could be “easily washed off”.
He splashed paint on the door of the Potong Pasir unit and recorded a video to show Devin what he had done.
The resident of the unit later received the video over WhatsApp and several messages, which contained threats to throw paint in another colour the following week if he refused to “settle” the debt.
The resident later reported to the police about the splashing of paint, saying that he had received a loan advertisement over text and tried to borrow money by responding to this message, but did not receive any loan in the end.
Police investigations revealed that Sharizal had splashed paint nine times at various housing units on of the instructions of the unlicensed moneylender since Nov 8, 2022.
On Nov 11, 2022, another of such incidents took at a housing unit in Canberra Street near Yishun, where the unit’s occupant had borrowed S$1,200 from the same unlicensed moneylender but was unable to repay his loan in five days.
Sharizal also splashed paint at a third housing unit in Jurong on the same day, and pasted a debtor’s note stating the resident’s name, identification number and the words “O$P$” (short for “owe money, pay money”).
He then splashed blue chalk paint at the unit and pasted the debtor’s note on the wall, sending a video of him doing so to Devin.
However, he later became afraid and wanted to remove the debtor’s note, but fled after he heard someone unlocking the door.
The victim from the Jurong unit made a police report after receiving a text message by phone, along with a threatening message from the same unlicensed moneylender that said he “better move new room”.
For distributing an intimate image without consent, Sharizal could have been jailed for up to five years, been caned or fined, or received any combination of these punishments.
For each charge of harassing a borrower on behalf of an unlicensed moneylender, he could have been jailed for up to five years and received a fine of up to S$50,000 and at least S$5,000 for a first offence. If damage is caused to any property during the offence, the offender can also be punished with three to six strokes of the cane.
Anyone convicted of assisting unlicensed moneylending activity can be jailed for up to four years, and receive a fine of S$30,000 to S$300,000. — TODAY