SINGAPORE – A male former secondary school teacher was sentenced to 20 weeks’ jail on Nov 22 after he assumed fake identities online and sent multiple victims sexually explicit material.

Tay Tong Wei, 36, had gone online with fake identities, including that of a woman, as he wanted other netizens to share their sexual experiences with him.

The private tutor, who taught at a school from 2013 to September 2019, sent sexually explicit videos and pictures to multiple victims of both sexes who were aged between 15 and 20 at the time.

In October, he pleaded guilty to six counts of distributing obscene material by electronic means.

He also admitted to one count of instigating one of his victims to do likewise. Forty other charges were considered during sentencing.

Tay committed the offences between 2015 and 2019. His victims included three men and three women, who cannot be named because of a gag order to protect their identities.

In earlier proceedings, the prosecution said that some time in 2013 or 2014, Tay discovered that he derived pleasure from chatting with others about their sexual experiences.

He then set up a Facebook profile, claiming to be a woman called Jasmin. He also set up profiles under the name of “Mike” on Facebook and Snapchat.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Sheldon Lim had earlier said: “The accused created (them) with the intention of talking to strangers about sexual topics. The accused hoped that these sexual conversations would lead to these strangers sharing their sexual experiences with him.”

While posing as “Jasmin” in November 2015, Tay came across the Facebook profile of a 17-year-old girl and asked to be her online friend. The teenager, who was referred to as V1 in court documents, accepted the request, and they started chatting.

“Jasmin” then started broaching various sexual topics with V1. The teenager, who thought that she was talking to another girl of the same age, eventually grew comfortable discussing topics of a sexual nature with “Jasmin”.

“Jasmin” later introduced V1 to “Mike”. V1 and “Mike” also started talking about sexual topics soon after.

Through the “Mike” account, Tay offered to buy V1 a sex toy, and she agreed to accept it.

Tay then bought the item, which he left on a bench near her home so that she could pick it up.

Posing as “Mike” and “Jasmin”, Tay also sent to V1 pictures and videos of people engaging in sexual acts. V1 later recorded a video of herself performing a sexual act and sent it to “Jasmin”.

Tay befriended his other victims in a similar manner before sharing obscene material with them.

On Feb 5, 2019, V1 made a police report, stating that she had exchanged videos of a sexual nature with one “Jasmin”.

Officers managed to ascertain Tay’s identity, and he went to Jurong Police Division five months later to record a statement.

They later seized from him two laptop computers and a mobile phone. Forensic examinations of the devices revealed the existence of more victims.

Tay’s bail was set at $5,000 on Nov 22 and he is expected to surrender himself at the State Courts on Dec 6 to begin serving his sentence.

For each count of distributing obscene material by electronic means, an offender can be jailed for up to three months and fined.