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SINGAPORE \u2013 A man was sentenced to 15 months\u2019 jail for having 92 images and three videos of child sexual abuse in his possession. <\/p>\n
On Feb 26, Tan Thiam Heng, 45, pleaded guilty to one charge of possessing child abuse material. The court heard that the children depicted in these videos were as young as six years old.<\/p>\n
Deputy Public Prosecutor Benjamin Low said Tan was working as a food delivery driver at the time of his offence.<\/p>\n
On Feb 28, 2023, police officers raided Tan\u2019s home, but he was out at the time. His mother contacted him and asked him to return home.<\/p>\n
On his way home, Tan did a factory reset of his mobile phone in a bid to conceal his actions, as he had used the device to browse and view the child abuse material.<\/p>\n
When he returned home, he confessed to downloading illegal child abuse videos online and was arrested by the police.<\/p>\n
Investigations revealed that more than a year before his arrest, Tan had developed an urge to view child abuse material.<\/p>\n
Acting on this, he began browsing the internet for videos of young boys featured in child sexual abuse material and downloaded them.<\/p>\n
Three weeks before his arrest, Tan saw a page on Facebook advertising child abuse material and paid $50 to be added into a Telegram group chat to view such videos.<\/p>\n
He would then download the videos he found and take screengrabs of them. After several days, he would delete the videos and screengrabs from his devices.<\/p>\n
It was not stated in court how his offences came to light.<\/p>\n
DPP Low sought a jail term of 16 to 18 months, noting that there was some planning and sophistication involved in Tan\u2019s actions, as he had used a file sharing program to locate and view the child abuse material.<\/p>\n
Adding that Tan had downloaded child pornography shared by unknown users on multiple Telegram group chats in Singapore, DPP Low said: \u201cHe was not an individual isolated actor but had congregated with like-minded individuals who shared the same deviant interests as himself.\u201d<\/p>\n
In mitigation, defence lawyer Doraraj Sinnappan said his client suffers from skin sclerosis, a condition causing the skin to thicken and harden.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis condition makes it difficult for him to move around without wearing long sleeves, and he is also unable to have any female companions and relationships. This caused him to be depressed and his only outlet was to watch such abusive material online,\u201d said the lawyer.<\/p>\n
Offenders convicted of possessing child abuse material can be jailed for up to five years and are liable to a fine or caning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n