Paedophile convicted of 12 child sex-related charges
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the US were on to him, and so were the Singapore police.
The Singaporean man, Chan Chun Hong, who had boasted of having sex with underage girls in the region, was nabbed with damning pictures and video clips of children having sex with adults.
Cornered, he claimed that he wanted to win the trust of paedophiles online so they could be punished in their countries.
But as the police here dug deeper, they found a man who treated young girls like goods that he could "da bao" (Mandarin for takeaway food) back to his hotel room for sex.
Chan, 31, pleaded guilty to 12 charges of various child sex-related offences, including organising a sex tour to Cambodia, in the State Courts yesterday.
He admitted to seven counts of electronically distributing child pornography, three counts of promoting commercial sex with a minor outside Singapore, and one count each of facilitating commercial sex with a minor outside Singapore and possession of obscene films.
Chan is the first here to be convicted of organising a commercial sex tour overseas and distributing information intended to promote paid sex with a minor outside Singapore.
He was initially slapped with 145 charges of various child pornography and child sex-related offences. The other charges will be taken into consideration during sentencing.
The details that emerged from Chan's case in court were horrific.
They told the story of how a Singaporean paedophile tapped into a greater network of like-minded individuals around the world and how he made short trips around the region to satisfy his deviant urges.
After he was arrested at Changi Airport on March 1 last year, Chan claimed to police officers that he started researching child sex crimes and abuse in 2009.
He said he was trying to establish a relationship with paedophiles and hoped to meet them in South-east Asia so they could be arrested by the relevant authorities for child prostitution.
ADDICTED
But he soon found himself addicted to child pornography.
During his second evaluation at the Institute of Mental Health, Chan was diagnosed with paedophilia.
He went to various online platforms where similar individuals contacted each other and shared graphic videos and pictures of sex with minors.
In 2011, he set up a new e-mail account just to send and receive child pornography.
His e-mail exchanges show that he sent 153 obscene photos and 16 obscene videos on seven occasions between Dec 5 and Dec 10 in 2011.
Many of them have young girls engaging in various sex acts with adults.
Based on the file names of the obscene photographs and the appearance of the girls, some could be as young as two years old.
In his e-mails to other users on the platform where photos and videos are shared, Chan asked for images of girls specifically from below 10 to 12 years old.
He clearly enjoyed what he was doing, enthusiastically giving feedback to fellow users when he liked what they had posted.
And it did not matter to him if the girls in the clips were suffering from the abuse.
He wrote in one e-mail: "Too bad the screams and her shouts are being dubbed by the techno music..."
Chan also asked for more graphic videos depicting "penetration". Evidence shown in court documents detailed what sort of sex acts he preferred.
In May 2012, Chan e-mailed a fellow paedophile, asking the man to teach him how to make young girls have sex with him because he "wanted to try but did not have a daughter or niece".
Police investigations also revealed he had been in contact with one "Mike Timothy" since May 2012.
He asked to trade pictures with the man and suggested they visit several South-east Asian countries together for sex with minors.
In their e-mail exchanges, Chan claimed the youngest girl he had sex with, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, was 15 years old.
He asked to join "Mike Timothy" on a weekend getaway to Cebu in the Philippines because it was "safer" to have sex with young girls there, "preferably between 10 to 14 years old".
While the trip would be on a pretext of a photo shoot, Chan wanted to know if the girls' parents would allow him to "do anything" to them.
"Mike Timothy" said he did not know but it would depend on extra payment.
The two met up in Cebu in January 2013 and evidence of the trip was found on Chan's photosharing account.
The posted photographs showed young girls with make-up and in skimpy clothes posing on beds and other places.
Acting on information from the FBI, the Singapore police set up a decoy e-mail account to communicate with Chan and later arrested him at Changi Airport. (See report on right.)
RAIDED
They raided his home in Yishun Ring Road, where they seized items including 64 jackets of DVDs, two laptops, three hard disks, thumbdrives, 15 DVDs believed to be obscene, condoms, a sex toy and four mobile phones.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Yang Ziliang asked the court to sentence Chan to at least six years' jail.
He said the "voluminous amount" of material distributed was of the "most egregious and abhorrent category of all: child pornography".
"The photographs and videos were not simply of nude consenting adults or consenting adults having carnal intercourse... The material showed young girls, most of prepubescent age, engaging in explicit sex acts with adults.
"(Chan's) requests for the more hardcore material, with screaming and shouting from the young girls, would only feed the online child pornography community's craving for harsher and more exploitative acts against these vulnerable young victims."
The case has been adjourned to Feb 16 for his lawyer to prepare submissions on sentencing as well as Chan's mitigation.
"(Chan Chun Hong's) requests for the more hardcore material, with screaming and shouting from the young girls, would only feed the online child pornography community's craving for harsher and more exploitative acts against these vulnerable young victims."
- Deputy Public Prosecutor Yang Ziliang
HOW HE WAS NABBED
Acting on information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Singapore police began investigating Chan Chun Hong, 31, in November 2013.
Using the pseudonym "Teo Dennis", a Singapore citizen, the police started corresponding with Chan online.
In e-mail correspondence, "Teo" told Chan that he wanted to visit Vietnam last year to "find young girls" and asked Chan to share his experience.
When "Teo" asked for girls between 16 and 18 years old, Chan suggested girls between 12 and 16 instead.
On Dec 29, 2013, Chan sent an e-mail to "Teo" telling him he could go to a place frequented by paedophiles in Phnom Penh in Cambodia.
"There are many there you can try. Age around six to 16. Depending on what you want to do..." he wrote.
Later that day, he told "Teo" his preference.
"I find 12 to 14 year olds (sic) the best as they are freshest and is (sic) becoming a grown-up girl soon. Innocent too. :) and very curious about sex," he wrote.
SAFE
The next day, he reassured "Teo" in another e-mail that the area in Phnom Penh is "quite well organised, not a Geylang-type area".
"For da bao (takeaway) back hotel (sic), have to negotiate further with the pimp there. Age varies, but oldest around 17 years old.
"Place is definitely safe as I have been there."
He also attached three photographs of the private parts of young girls.
In their e-mail and WhatsApp correspondence, Chan said it was better to visit Cambodia for underage sex since "many little girls in Cambodia are from Vietnam actually.
"And it is easier to find (girls) in Cambodia than in Vietnam".
They agreed that "Teo" would pay for both their flights and accommodation in Cambodia and Chan would make the arrangements and accompany "Teo" on the trip.
The trip was planned for between April 1 and April 4 last year, when they would visit karaoke lounges to select young girls to take back to their hotel rooms.
If "Teo" was feeling more adventurous, they would go into rural areas to look for even younger girls.
Before the trip could happen, Chan was arrested at Changi Airport on March 1 last year.
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