Jail, caning for ex-NTU student who took photos of girls, including a 13-year-old, in lingerie & molested one of them

A 31-year-old Singaporean man was sentenced to 27 months' jail and five strokes of the cane after he took lewd photos of girls in lingerie and molested one of them.

According to court documents, Tnee Chin Kiat had hosted the girls in his university dormitory room at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) while he was a part-time student there.

He pleaded guilty to three charges, including outrage of modesty, procuring an indecent act by a child and possessing child sexual abuse material.

Molested girl during photoshoot in dormitory room

Thee, who was working as a flight engineer at the time of his offences, had picked up photography as a hobby between 2016 and 2017.

He had approached female friends and strangers under the guise of conducting photoshoots.

His sessions, held in his dormitory room at NTU's Graduate Hall 1, typically involved lingerie, bikinis, and see-through swimsuits.

Tnee also admitted that he hoped such encounters would lead to sexual acts with the models.

In 2018, he had put out an advertisement on the Gumtree platform requesting for paid models.

An 18-year-old girl responded to the advertisement and met Tnee for three sessions in his dorm room.

In the first two sessions, he only took photos of her in lingerie provided by him and did not touch her apart from adjusting her clothing.

During the third session, Tnee had put on restraints on her wrists that had chains attached for the photoshoot.

He later told her to lie down on his bed and secured her wrists to the bedframe using the restraints.

He then moved part of her clothing aside to touch her private parts without her consent and also attempted to kiss her, but she turned away.

Although Tnee initially stopped after noticing her discomfort, he molested her again before she demanded an end to the session.

He then apologised, released her restraints and paid her S$200 before sending her off.

He later sent her the photos via WhatsApp.

Arrested after approaching 11-year-old girl

On another occasion in 2018, Tnee had also pressured a 13-year-old girl into wearing lingerie, including a bikini and a G-string that fully exposed her buttocks for a photoshoot.

He had approached her while she was alone at an overhead bridge and she had agreed to become his model so that he would stop bothering her.

Despite expressing her discomfort during the session, Thee ignored her and continued photographing her against her wishes.

At the end of the session, he gave her S$80 and later repeatedly messaged her for another photoshoot.

She ignored his messages, but he continued contacting her until she threatened to file a police report.

Tnee was later arrested in September 2020 after approaching an 11-year-old girl and attempting to persuade her to participate in an adult-themed photoshoot.

During police investigations, Tnee revealed that he had also conducted adult photoshoots with other women.

Had child sexual abuse material

Officers seized multiple electronic devices during investigations, including:

• a 1TB Western Digital external hard disk
• an Apple iPhone 4
• an ASUS laptop
• two Western Digital USB hard drives

A forensic examination uncovered 1,144 obscene videos, as well as 69 videos and 81 images classified as child abuse material.

Some of the content featured children as young as eight years old engaging in sexual acts with adults and other minors.

Tnee had admitted that he was "greedy" and kept downloading such material as it was free.

Top photo via Google Maps & Nanyang Technological University