SINGAPORE — When he wanted to break up with his girlfriend, she threatened to tell others that he had borrowed money from her.

He then turned the tables on her, sending the woman a video screenshot of her performing a sex act on him and saying he would spread it.

On Wednesday (April 3), the 29-year-old man was jailed five months and fined S$30,000. He pleaded guilty to one count of criminally intimidating his 34-year-old former girlfriend, one count of causing hurt and one count of assisting an unlicensed moneylender.

The man, who cannot be named to protect his victim’s identity, worked as a safety coordinator at the time of his offences.

The court heard that on Oct 29, 2017, the couple got into an argument over the phone via text messages, when he wanted to break up with her.

Unhappy with her threat, he later sent her a screenshot of the three-minute explicit video on Nov 2, 2017. He threatened to embarrass her by sending it to other people and making it go viral.

She made a police report the next day.

Despite the developments, the couple spent the night of Nov 6 together at a hotel.

After parting ways the next morning, he realised that she had obtained the phone number of his girlfriend at the time and created a group chat with the three of them and two of her friends. She then told his girlfriend in the group chat that he was cheating on her.

Angered by her actions, the man asked to meet her at her workplace. During their meeting, he grabbed her arm and pulled her when she refused to follow him to his car.

The woman resisted and fell. He punched her in the back of her head when she got up and then left the scene.

Court documents showed that around this time, he also sent her another similar screenshot of the explicit video.

A security officer called for an ambulance and she was taken to Raffles Hospital. She suffered from pain and swelling in her head and was discharged with painkillers.

In an unrelated incident, the man borrowed money from a loan shark in December 2016 as he had financial issues.

The loan shark, who was identified as “Clement”, sent him threatening messages when he was unable to pay the loan, demanding payment and threatening to harass his family members. Clement said he would offset S$300 from the man’s debt if he handed over a UOB bank card.

When the man opened a UOB account and handed the card to the loan shark, the latter sent the man another message the next day, saying there was still a lot of money not paid.

Clement directed him to open an OCBC account at the bank's Ang Mo Kio Hub outlet, claiming he would offset another S$300 from the man’s debts. The man then approached a woman in her 50s to hand her the OCBC card.

The identities of Clement and the woman remain unknown.

For criminal intimidation through imputing unchastity to his victim, the man could have been jailed up to 10 years and/or fined.

For voluntarily causing hurt, he could have been jailed up to two years and/or fined up to S$5,000. For assisting an unlicensed moneylender, he could have been jailed up to four years and fined at least S$30,000.