Online personality Kurt Tay has been sentenced to 14 months in prison and fined S$3,000 for distributing intimate material online without consent and threatening a victim.
Tay, whose real name is Tay Foo Wei, pleaded guilty to one charge of distributing the material and one charge of using threatening communication. Other charges were taken into consideration during the sentencing on Wednesday (Apr 22).
The Investigation into Kurt Tay
The 43-year-old first contacted the victim in June 2023 after seeing her Twitter page advertising sexual services. He engaged her for services and arranged several in-person dates.
In October 2023, Tay posted threatening messages in a Telegram group chat, where he asked about the cost of hiring a hitman and stated that he wanted the victim “to die.”
The victim filed a police report after friends in the chat identified her as the target. Due to a court gag order, the victim and the group chat cannot be named.
Distribution of Intimate Material
Shortly after the initial threats, Tay distributed an intimate video 30 times and an intimate photo 13 times to the Telegram group, which consisted of over 240 members.
Tay stated he was acting as “an eye for an eye.” The victim reported the incident the same day she was notified by others that the content had been posted.
According to court documents, the distribution left the victim feeling “alarmed, distressed and humiliated,” to the point that she considered psychiatric help.
The prosecution argued that Tay acted with malice and a desire for revenge to maximize the victim’s humiliation. They noted that the material was explicit, the victim’s face was fully visible, and the content was easily redistributable by other members of the chat.
Tay was arrested approximately three days after the distribution. Police recovered the video and photo from his mobile phone and the Telegram chats.
Public Profile of the Accused
Tay, who refers to himself online as “Superstar Celebrity Kurt Tay,” first appeared publicly during a 2006 audition for Singapore Idol.
He has been mentioned in the media previously for various behaviors, including getting breast implants and participating in a street fight.
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