Man Jailed Over Three Years and Caned for Possessing Hundreds of Child Sexual Abuse Videos for Distribution

SINGAPORE: A 31-year-old man was sentenced on Monday (14 July) to three years and one month in jail and four strokes of the cane for possessing hundreds of child sexual abuse videos for the purpose of distribution.

Danial Abdul Rahman pleaded guilty to one charge of possessing 285 such videos with the intention to share them. A second charge was taken into consideration during sentencing.

Most of the videos featured children engaged in or appearing to engage in sexual activity, with seven videos depicting victims of torture, cruelty, or physical abuse.

According to court documents, the collection involved 414 children—383 of whom were identifiable—and included one video lasting more than an hour and 50 minutes.

Years of collecting and sharing abusive material
The court heard that Danial, who was training to be a digital marketer at the time, began browsing the blogging platform Tumblr in 2017 in search of obscene content involving males. He downloaded and stored the material in a Google Drive account.

He later accessed the dark web to look for child sexual abuse content and joined multiple Telegram channels where such materials were shared. The content was stored in his Google Drive, where he amassed a large collection over several years.

In 2018, Danial created a Twitter account—now known as X—to post and retweet obscene material, eventually gaining between 200 and 500 followers. Some users privately messaged him, asking for help to locate or download child sexual abuse content.

Danial agreed to these requests, finding and sending such material via direct messages or by sharing Google Drive links. Even after Twitter suspended his account in May 2021, he continued receiving similar requests through Telegram, where he remained active.

Investigations showed that Danial distributed the material to multiple users, including at least five on Twitter, over a span of four years from 2018 to March 2022.

On 12 May 2022, police raided Danial’s home after receiving a tip-off about his activities. He admitted to uploading obscene materials to his Google Drive and was immediately arrested.

Officers seized his devices and found 285 videos depicting child sexual abuse. Some videos involved infants less than a year old and contained acts described as “degrading and extreme.”

Prosecution calls for stern punishment
Deputy Public Prosecutor Benjamin Low described Danial’s offences as “reprehensible in the highest degree,” stressing that his actions contributed directly to the circulation and consumption of exploitative content online.

He told the court that Danial “willingly responded to the depraved requests of third-party internet users” and had effectively become a “one-man distribution hub” for child sexual abuse material.

By repeatedly sharing such content, the prosecutor said, Danial “fuelled the predatory demands of others,” aggravating the harm done to the victims whose images and videos were repeatedly circulated.

The prosecution sought a sentence of between 37 and 39 months’ imprisonment and six strokes of the cane, citing the large quantity of material, the prolonged duration of his actions, and the active role he played in dissemination.

Mitigation and sentencing
In mitigation, Danial’s lawyer noted that he had cooperated with investigators and did not attempt to deny or conceal his offences. He also highlighted that Danial had no previous criminal record and was remorseful for his actions.

However, the court found that the seriousness of his crimes warranted a deterrent sentence. The judge said the scale of material involved and the nature of its distribution placed Danial’s case among the more severe categories of such offences.

The court added that each instance of viewing or sharing child sexual abuse content represents a continuing act of harm against victims, as such recordings perpetuate their suffering indefinitely.

Danial was sentenced to three years and one month in jail and four strokes of the cane.

Under Singapore law, anyone found guilty of possessing or distributing child sexual abuse material faces up to seven years in jail, a fine, and caning.

Authorities have consistently urged the public to report the circulation of such content and reminded internet users that viewing or storing exploitative material constitutes a criminal offence, regardless of intent to share.

The police also emphasised that Singapore maintains a zero-tolerance stance toward online exploitation and that cooperation with international law enforcement continues to trace and dismantle global networks distributing such content.