Singapore jails man who harassed piano teacher online after she rejected him romantically
- Koh Liang Min created Facebook and Instagram accounts under different aliases and used them to post about the victim, the court heard
- He called her a ‘homewrecker’ and asked for her ‘rates’ for sexual services. He also published her photographs, contact number and address
As a result of Koh Liang Min’s actions, the victim not only suffered emotionally but financially, too, as two students withdrew from the piano classes she ran on a freelance basis.
On Monday, Koh was sentenced to three weeks’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to three counts of harassment. Four similar charges were taken into consideration during sentencing.
The victim cannot be named under a court order to protect her identity.
The court heard that Koh met the victim sometime in early March 2021 through a mutual friend, and the two went out on several occasions after their initial meeting.
Koh confessed during one of the occasions that he was romantically attracted to her, but she did not reciprocate.
In May that year, the woman told Koh that she wanted to stop communicating with him.
“The accused was upset, and attempted to contact the victim via WhatsApp. However, the accused was unsuccessful in doing so as the victim had blocked him,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor Ong Xin Jie.
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Koh then created Facebook and Instagram accounts under different aliases and used them to post “derogatory and lewd messages” about the victim, said the prosecutor.
For example, on May 27, 2021, he created a Facebook page where he shared the victim’s photos.
On the page he wrote that the woman worked at a “dirty KTV”, “sell the body for money”. He also stated that she taught music part time and warned people not to hire her as she was “a home wrecker”.
The following month, he created a Facebook account under a different name and contacted the victim via Facebook Messenger, asking for her “rates” for her sexual services.
[Koh made] a sustained effort to disseminate lewd falsehoods online about the victim over a month
Later the same month, he created an Instagram account and published the victim’s photographs, contact number and address.
“As a result of the aforementioned posts by the accused on Facebook and Instagram, at least two students of the victim stopped seeing the victim for piano lessons,” Ong said.
The prosecutor added that the victim was so fearful of strangers showing up at her home that she needed sleeping pills to fall asleep.
Seeking a total jail term of three to five weeks, Ong said that Koh had made “a sustained effort to disseminate lewd falsehoods online about the victim over a month”.
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He added that the actions were planned and premeditated, given the fake accounts created to harass the victim, resulting in “both emotional distress and financial harm”.
For each count of causing harassment, Koh could have been sentenced to a fine of up to S$5,000 (US$3,760), a jail term of up to six months, or both.
