May 20, 2025
SINGAPORE – Fang Weijie, better known as former actor Ian Fang, has been sentenced to 40 months’ jail for committing sexual offences against a minor.
Fang, 35, pleaded guilty on May 19 to three counts of sexually penetrating an underage girl.
Five other charges, including sexual penetration of an underage girl, harassment and obstructing the course of justice, were taken into account during sentencing.
He will begin his sentence on June 16.
Fang was identified in court after District Judge Eddy Tham lifted the gag order on his identity following an application by the prosecution.
The judge said that while the main focus of the gag order was to protect the victim from further harm, he would respect the wishes of the victim and her family to reveal his identity.
The victim cannot be named due to a court-imposed gag order. She was a 15-year-old student at the time of the offences.
In sentencing Fang, the judge said: “As a 34-year-old adult man, he knew what he was doing. He knew what was likely to take place each time he visited the victim.
“It was not a one-off event. He had taken advantage of an emotional vulnerability.
“His attempt to gaslight the victim for the sole purpose of saving his own neck, without any concern for her welfare, also led to more harm to the victim.”
At the time of the offences, Fang was employed as an acting teacher at First Model School, a modelling school for children aged between four and 14.
He was previously an actor with national broadcaster Mediacorp until May 2023.
Fang first met the victim at an entertainment event on May 4, 2024, and exchanged contact details with her, Deputy Public Prosecutor Lynda Lee told the court.
The pair conversed daily and grew closer.
Between June and July 2024, Fang had sex with the teen on nine occasions.
The prosecution said he had unprotected sex with the teen on five of the occasions. He used a condom only when she insisted.
DPP Lee said Fang met the teen alone under the cover of night on each occasion, which DPP Lee said showed he had planned to have sex with the teen.
On June 6, 2024, the teen’s mother checked her into a hotel to quarantine her as the teen had contracted Covid-19.
At that time, Fang and the teen had grown very close and the teen saw him as her boyfriend.
At around 9pm that day, he visited her at the hotel and had unprotected sex with her.
DPP Lee said the girl had asked him to wear a condom but he refused. It was the teen’s first sexual experience.
Less than a week later, Fang asked to meet the teen, who was still quarantined in the hotel.
She left the room to meet him for a meal, before they headed home together to his residence near midnight.
Once there, he again had unprotected sex with her. She left his home around 9am the next day.
The offences continued, even when the teen was hospitalised and placed in a private room for a flu infection on June 17, 2024.
Fang waited until after midnight to visit her, after ensuring she was alone. He had sex with her in the hospital room that night.
The girl’s mother made a police report some time in August after speaking to the teen and learning that the pair had been having sexual relations.
After police investigations began, Fang contacted the girl through social media, asking her to contact him despite being warned by officers not to contact her.
During their conversations, he told her he would commit suicide if he had to go to jail.
Fang’s lawyer, Ms Noelle Teoh from Gloria James-Civetta & Co, said in mitigation that the investigations left Fang anxious and distraught about his future and the implications a conviction would have on his life, but added that he recognised the gravity of his actions.
She added that Fang had not maliciously kept the relationship secret, but had done so to maintain privacy due to his public profile.
Ms Teoh said: “His intention was to avoid unwanted attention or speculation that might arise from the relationship, rather than to conceal any wrongdoing.”
DPP Lee said the girl developed depression and had suicidal thoughts after Fang kept contacting her to ask her to persuade her mother to withdraw the charges.
She was eventually admitted to the Institute of Mental Health and diagnosed with adjustment disorder.
“She lost her confidence and was no longer happy. She will continue to live with the burden of Mr Fang’s actions, even with the conclusion of this case,” said DPP Lee.