S'pore man, 20, admits to obtaining over 100 sexually explicit videos of children, gets reformative training

A 20-year-old Singaporean man was ordered to undergo 12 months' reformative training on May 6 after he pleaded guilty to possessing 10 sexually explicit videos of children on his phone and iPad.

One of the videos involved a girl who appeared to be five to seven years old, while other videos involved boys who appeared to be six to 14 years old.

Besides owning such videos, the man, Mohamed Danial Rafiuddin Bin Mohamed Rashid, also admitted to trading and exchanging videos with around 10 to 15 individuals on social media from 2016 until a few weeks before his arrest in 2023.

According to The Straits Times, Danial is currently a full-time national serviceman.

Police received tip-off on Danial's offence

Court documents seen by Mothership revealed that the Singapore police received a tip-off sometime in December 2023, alleging that Danial was in possession of child abuse materials.

Following the tip-off, police officers raided Danial's home on Dec. 18, 2023, and placed him under arrest after he admitted to his offence.

The police also seized several of Danial's electronic devices, including an iPad and a handphone.

Claimed to be exposed to child abuse materials in 2016

Investigations subsequently revealed that the iPad and the handphone respectively contained three and seven sexually explicit videos of children.

Danial also admitted that he intentionally possessed the videos, knowing that it was an offence to do so.

He claimed that he was first exposed to sexually explicit videos of children sometime in 2016, when he came across a Facebook group containing such videos.

Danial would obtain copies of such videos by screen-recording and saving them on his electronic devices.

Additionally, he admitted to trading and exchanging sexually explicit videos of children with around 10 to 15 individuals on Telegram, WhatsApp, and Facebook over the course of seven years.

In total, Danial admitted that he obtained more than 100 such videos, adding that he would watch them before intentionally retaining them in his electronic devices.

Unsuitable for probation

For his offence, Danial was deemed unfit for probation and was ordered by the court to undergo 12 months of reformative training, which can include foot drills and counselling, reported ST.

During court proceedings, the prosecution submitted that Danial did not show remorse or accept responsibility for his offence, citing that he had given information that contradicted court documents to his probation officer.

In response to the court's sentencing, his father pleaded in court to "lower his sentence", highlighting that Danial is a young man serving his national service and has not reoffended after he was released on bail.

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