SINGAPORE: A woman who livestreamed sex acts from a void deck in Boon Lay for around two hours had her husband keep a lookout for her.
Both were spotted by members of the public, who called the police on them.
Nguyen Thi Ngoc Lan, 31, and her husband Adrian Ching Kah Siang, 36, were each sentenced to three weeks’ jail on Thursday (Feb 20).
Nguyen, a Vietnamese national, pleaded guilty to one count of performing an obscene act in public, while Ching, a Singaporean, pleaded guilty to abetting her.
They each had one charge, related to Nguyen appearing nude in public, taken into consideration for sentencing.
The court heard that Nguyen would livestream regularly on TikTok and a Vietnamese gaming app called MMlive.
She decided to heed her viewers’ challenge to livestream sex acts in public while skimpily dressed in exchange for money.
On Sep 27, 2024, Nguyen wore a translucent dress and sat at the void deck directly in front of a lift at about 1.17pm. With a mobile phone on a tripod stand facing her, she danced and performed several obscene acts.
She was seen by a 32-year-old man, who called his wife. The couple then recorded Nguyen as evidence and one of them called the police.
Nguyen later changed into an equally skimpy kimono which exposed her private parts when she moved around. She continued performing indecent acts in full view of the public.
Meanwhile, Ching sat beside Nguyen while she livestreamed to keep a lookout and ensure no one would interrupt.
The police arrived at about 3.09pm and arrested Nguyen.
In court documents, the prosecution pointed out that the incident occurred on a work and school day, and noted children could be returning home during that time.
The void deck was highly accessible, visible and had high human traffic, the prosecution said.
When Nguyen first had her statement taken, she denied all the acts and claimed to only be dancing “in a sexy way” while livestreaming.
“Nguyen only admitted to her obscene act in a second statement when confronted with video evidence … She also claimed that she ‘reveal only a bit’ (sic) despite the fact that she was almost nude,” said Deputy Public Prosecutor Esther Lim.
Ching similarly denied the acts, claiming that he and Nguyen were fully clothed, and then tried to argue that performing sexual acts while fully clothed should not be considered obscene. He also claimed that Nguyen had exposed herself by accident.
DPP Lim asked for three weeks and three days’ jail for each of the accused.
She told the court that Nguyen was seated in full view of the public in a residential area, where each person returning home would be “forced to walk past her and be exposed to her obscene act”.
“By committing her offences at the void deck, where residents necessarily had to walk past her to return or leave home, Nguyen essentially held the residents of the block hostage to witness her obscene act,” said Ms Lim.
Nguyen “effectively manufactured pornography in a public place”, she added.
Mitigating in person, Ching told the court: “From the bottom of my heart, I apologise to court and the people of Singapore. We recognise our mistake and we are very remorseful for our actions.”
He added that his family members had been under “tremendous stress” due to press coverage of the incident.
“(The) psychological stress, pain and suffering of my family is more than the punishment of a jail term, and it has affected my career and has a ripple effect on my future life as well,” Ching said.
He asked District Judge Jasvender Kaur for leniency and compassion “instead of a jail term”.
Speaking through an interpreter, Nguyen said she was facing financial difficulties and had to support a teen daughter in Vietnam.
Ching also requested for a gag order to be placed on the couple’s identity for the well-being of his mother and to “protect the dignity” of Nguyen.
The judge declined to do so. In passing her sentence, Judge Kaur noted the extended period of offending and the accessibility of the location Nguyen was in.
She was satisfied that the offences warranted a jail term.
An offender convicted of doing an obscene act may be jailed up to three months, or fined, or both.
