SINGAPORE - Four men involved in an unprecedented case where husbands with wife-sharing fantasies found one another online and conspired to have their own partners sedated and raped pleaded guilty to their crimes on Monday.

Three of them – Husband K, 45, who worked in business development; Husband L, 53, a business development manager; and Husband M, 45, a company director – admitted to conspiring with other men to have their respective wives and former wife raped while they watched and, in some cases, recorded the assaults for future viewing.

These three men, as well as a fourth, Bachelor N, 37, a food delivery worker, also admitted to conspiring with their accomplice Husband J, 41, to rape his wife between 2010 and 2018.

Prosecutors are seeking 19 to 23 years’ jail and 24 strokes of the cane for K and M; 17 to 21 years’ jail and 24 strokes for N; and 11 to 16.5 years’ jail for L, with an additional six months’ jail in lieu of caning.

J, who faces the most number of charges among all seven men involved in the case, played a central role in the events that were recounted in the High Court on Monday. He was initially due to plead guilty as well, but is seeking new legal counsel after his lawyers discharged themselves last week.

The men cannot be named owing to a gag order to protect the identities of the four women who were raped.

Another man, P, who was invited by L to rape his wife but ultimately did not succeed, was jailed for three years in January.

The last accomplice, O, is contesting the charges against him.

The offences came to light after J’s wife discovered explicit images of herself on his mobile phone, and found out her husband and K had been “exchanging wives”.

Aside from conspiring to rape each other’s wives, J and K each secretly live-streamed themselves having sex with their wives to others.

Prosecutors told the court that the men sometimes commended each other, saying “nice show”, for the sexual acts performed.

J got to know K between 2010 and 2011 through the SammyBoy online forum. They communicated through Skype, discussing wife-sharing fantasies, where the husband would watch another man having sex with his wife.

J and K agreed to sedate their respective wives so that the other man could have sex with his wife while she was unconscious. After some research, they settled on using Dormicum, a sleeping pill, as the sedative.

K tested the pills that J passed to him by spiking his wife’s drinks without her knowledge, until he determined the dosage that would cause her to be unconscious.

In 2012, after spiking his wife’s wine and blindfolding her, K told J to go over to his flat. As J raped K’s wife, K watched and video-recorded the acts. After J was done, K had sex with his unconscious wife.

In 2014, when J’s wife was feeling sick, he slipped her some Dormicum on the pretext of feeding her medication. J then told K to go over, and K raped J’s unconscious wife while J watched and took photos.

After the rapes, K and J continued to reminisce about what they had done.

In their chats, K said it would be nice if J could “manage to knock her up”. They also spoke of plans to get their wives raped and impregnated by other men.

L got to know K online in 2010 to 2011 and met J to pass him sleeping pills. L had access to the live-streamed videos of J and K. He and K also exchanged explicit images of their respective wives.

In 2013, J spiked his wife’s wine and told L to come over. J waited for his four children and maid to fall asleep before letting L in.

L then raped J’s wife while J video-recorded the assault. J later sent the video to L as well as to N.

In 2015, L told his colleague P about his fantasies and asked P to have sex with his wife.

In 2017, L drugged his wife and told P to come over. While his three children and maid were asleep in another room, L invited P to his bedroom and fondled his wife.

P tried to have sex with L’s wife, but was unsuccessful. She regained consciousness and realised another man was trying to have sex with her. She confronted both men and made them confess in writing.

M got to know J in 2010 through the SammyBoy online forum and expressed his interest in having sex with J’s wife.

In 2010, J gave his wife Dormicum on the pretext of feeding her medication, and told M, who was downstairs, to come up. M then raped J’s wife while J took photos and a video.

M later agreed for J to have sex with his former wife. At the time, M lived with his former wife, their three children and his mother-in-law even though he had remarried.

On National Day in 2018, while J’s wife was overseas, M’s former wife agreed to go with him to J’s flat after M told her it was for networking purposes.

J offered the woman a spiked drink, and then raped her while M took photos.

N got to know J in 2010. On two occasions between 2017 and 2018, J gave his wife Dormicum on the pretext that it was medicine, and then invited N to his flat.

N raped J’s wife while J took photos, which he later sent to N. On one image, J added a caption that said, “I will always be knockout waiting in my bed for you” and signed off as “Your sexdoll”.

The case was adjourned to a later date for further sentencing arguments.