Jail for S'pore man who forced teen to strip naked as an alternative to beating

In sentencing the man, District Judge Sharmila Sripathy-Shanaz noted the prolonged abuse and "escalation in offending behaviour".

SINGAPORE - A teenager caught up in a staring incident was offered two options by his aggressors - get beaten up or strip naked.

To avoid a beating, the teenager chose to strip, and a video showing his private parts went viral on social media.

Mohammad Nor Farizwan Riswan, 27, who filmed the video with his mobile phone, was sentenced to three weeks' jail after pleading guilty to one count each of harassment and voluntarily causing hurt in court on Tuesday (Oct 26).

The victim, who was 17 at the time of the offence, cannot be named because of a gag order.

He was involved in a staring incident with a man on March 12, 2019.

Despite attempts to resolve the situation, the victim punched the man in a fit of anger, Deputy Public Prosecutor Colin Ng told the court.

Messages were then spread to locate the victim. When he was seen at Admiralty MRT station the next day, Farizwan, a Singaporean, and another man, Muhammad Danial Mohamed Yashim, 23, confronted him.

After confirming the victim's identity, Farizwan punched him once on the face and Danial kicked him on the neck.

A third man, Muhammad Azroy Jasni, joined them, and they took the victim to a more secluded spot at a Housing Board block void deck.

They then gave him the option to strip naked to prove his sincerity in admitting his mistake for the punching incident.

DPP Ng said: "While (the victim) was undressing, the accused, Danial and Azroy were harassing (him) constantly by telling him to remove his clothes, where to walk and how to position himself."

After filming the compromising video, Farizwan shared it on a WhatsApp group named "TeamDeliveroo", and it went viral on Twitter a few days later.

DPP Ng said the victim was distressed when asked to strip and was shamed by many of his schoolmates who had seen the video. He made a police report the day after the incident.

The DPP added that Farizwan was not forthcoming during the investigations and had denied sending the video to anyone as well as claiming he had deleted it.

However, he admitted his offence in a subsequent statement to the police.

Danial was given 18 months' split probation on Sept 16 last year for voluntarily causing hurt while Azroy was sentenced to three weeks' jail on Oct 18 this year.

Calling for a longer sentence of four weeks' jail for Farizwan, DPP Ng said: "Not only did he humiliate and cause distress to the victim by asking him to strip naked, he further humiliated the victim by recording a video of it and sharing the said video in the 'TeamDeliveroo' WhatsApp group chat."

In mitigation, defence lawyer Mohamed Hashim asked for a non-custodial sentence or a jail term of not more than two weeks, as Farizwan had reformed and found meaningful employment since the incident more than two years ago.

In meting out the three-week jail sentence, District Judge Chay Yuen Fatt said Farizwan's culpability for the harassment was the same as Azroy's.

Farizwan was offered bail of $6,000 and ordered to surrender himself at the State Courts on Nov 12 to begin his sentence.

For harassment, he could have been fined up to $5,000 and jailed for up to six months, or both.

For voluntarily causing hurt, he could have been fined up to $5,000 or jailed for up to three years, or both.

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