SINGAPORE — While hooking up with two men through the gay dating app Grindr, Okereke Ransom Okechukwu secretly filmed the acts with his mobile phone.

He asked one victim to hand over S$500 or he would “ruin” him by circulating the video. Three days later, he asked another man to give him S$1,500, this time threatening to kill him with a gun if he refused to.

On Monday (April 8), the 34-year-old Nigerian citizen was sentenced to one year behind bars for his actions. He had pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal intimidation.

Court documents did not state if he permanently resides in Singapore or what his occupation is. His sentence was backdated to his date of remand: May 25, 2018.

ASKED FOR MORE MONEY

The court heard that Ransom’s first victim was a 36-year-old Singapore permanent resident. Both victims cannot be named due to a court gag order to protect their identities.

On May 19, 2018, he started communicating with Ransom while using Grindr. He then invited Ransom to his house at about 4.30pm that same day.

When they met, Ransom asked him to perform a sex act on him.

There was no discussion or agreement involving money at any point.

During the act, Ransom told the other man that he wanted to check something on his mobile phone. But instead of doing so, he used his phone to film the man performing the sex act.

When they were done, Ransom got dressed and demanded S$500.

His victim refused to pay, whereupon Ransom showed him the video and refused to delete it.

The victim said he would have to withdraw the cash from an automated teller machine (ATM). Ransom started shouting at him and repeated his threats, emphasising that he would circulate the video and  “ruin” his victim.

The duo left the victim’s home and walked to a UOB ATM at International Plaza in Tanjong Pagar. The victim withdrew S$200 and told Ransom that was his daily withdrawal limit, but Ransom demanded that he pay the remaining sum.

The victim withdrew S$300 more from another UOB ATM nearby.

At this point, Ransom told him that as he had lied about his daily withdrawal limit, he needed to pay another S$500. The victim pleaded with him to delete the video but Ransom refused to do so.

The other man then decided to call the police. Ransom began following him as he walked away, but later fled.

THREATENED WITH A GUN

The next day, Ransom began chatting with his second victim through Grindr — a 32-year-old Australian national who was in Singapore on a business trip.

Two days later, on May 22, the victim agreed to meet Ransom at his hotel room to engage in sexual activity. Similarly, there was no talk of money at any point.

In the room, Ransom held onto his phone, explaining that he intended to watch pornography as the other man performed a sex act on him.

However, the victim recognised the noise emitting from the phone to be that of a user recording a video. They began quarrelling, and Ransom demanded S$1,500 from the victim.

When the victim refused, Ransom told him he had a gun and that he would kill him if he did not agree.

The other man then suggested getting the money from the hotel reception counter.

As they began leaving, the victim closed the door behind him and locked Ransom out of the room. Ransom began banging on the door, still asking for money.

The other man called the hotel’s security staff with the room phone, and Ransom fled shortly afterwards.

At about 10.30pm the next day, he was arrested at Hotel 81 Hollywood in Geylang.

In mitigation, Ransom’s lawyer, Mr Skandarajah Selvarajah, said that his client was remorseful and promised not to repeat his crimes.

District Judge Kessler Soh responded: “I hope you’re really sorry for what you’ve done, and if you’re sorry, you won’t repeat it in whatever part of the world you’re in.”

For criminal intimidation, Ransom could have been jailed up to two years and fined. For threatening to cause death to his second victim, he could have been jailed up to 10 years and fined.