‘Mark him for life’: Singapore teen’s parents want Ian Fang caned for offences

Victim’s parents say they also intend to sue former China-born actor, who was convicted of having underage sex with their daughter

The parents of a teenage girl in Singapore have called for stronger punishment for former actor Ian Fang, after he was convicted of having underage sex with their daughter.

Fang, 35, was sentenced to 40 months’ jail on May 19 after pleading guilty to sexual offences involving a minor. He did not face caning for the sexual offences he committed against the then 15-year-old girl.

The victim’s parents, however, have called for Fang to be caned.

“Mark him for life. He marked my daughter for life,” the girl’s father told national broadcaster CNA. “Let the guy learn. Like that, every time he takes off his clothes, people can see … he did something bad in the past.”

The couple also said they intended to sue Fang.

In June last year, Fang engaged in mostly unprotected sex with the victim on nine occasions, despite knowing that she was underage. He was 34 at the time of the offences, and worked as an acting teacher at a modelling school for students aged four to 14.

Fang is set to begin serving his sentence on June 16.

The former TV personality was prosecuted under Section 376A(2)(b) of the Penal Code, which deals with cases where offenders did not have an exploitative relationship with their victim.

Caning is not included as a punishment under this section.

Had Fang been sentenced under Section 376A(2)(a) – where an exploitative relationship is present – he could have faced caning, a fine, or a jail term of up to 20 years.

“I am very, very dissatisfied. He must be caned,” the victim’s mother told local Chinese-language outlet 8world in an interview, under the condition of anonymity.

“If he was caned, there would always be a scar on his buttocks, so he can’t go out and seduce others.”

The victim’s mother told 8world that she would “sue him until he goes bankrupt”. She has reportedly engaged a lawyer to begin civil proceedings.

The family emphasised that they were not suing Fang for monetary compensation, but rather to teach him a “lesson”.

“I will never touch a single cent from him. Everything will be donated to a charity,” the victim’s father told CNA. “But I want to make this guy learn his lesson, and why we sue him is because there is no rotan [Malay for cane].”

The family was “disgusted” to see Fang, whom they once considered a friend, actively posting on social media “like nothing happened”, CNA reported.

Fang, whose registered name is Fang Wei Jie, was born in Shanghai, China, and became a Singapore permanent resident in 2015. He was previously an actor with state broadcaster Mediacorp until May 2023.

His identity was not initially made public, but the gag order was later lifted at the prosecution’s request. The victim’s identity and that of her family members are still protected by a court order.

Fang met the victim at an entertainment event in May last year, according to court documents.

The girl confessed to her parents about the sexual relationship after she contracted human papillomavirus (HPV) from Fang.

A police report was filed in August last year.

Following this, Fang would repeatedly call the victim at about midnight to 2am daily for several months, despite being instructed not to, the girl’s father told CNA.

While Fang was under investigation, he reportedly told the victim over the phone that he would kill himself if he went to jail, and instructed the girl to cry in front of her mother and ask not to press charges against him.

According to the victim’s impact statement, the offences had affected her gender expression. She also said she had become fearful of middle-aged men, did not want men near her, and had lost trust in relationships.

She was warded at Singapore’s Institute of Mental Health for five days last August, and diagnosed with adjustment disorder with depressed mood.

Fang was not the only permanent resident who made local headlines for sexual misconduct last month.

TikToker Lev Panfilov, originally from Russia, gained attention after he was sentenced to 11½ years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane for raping a woman he had met on a dating app. The 29-year-old intends to appeal against his conviction and sentence.

Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority told local media that it was reviewing the permanent residence statuses of both Fang and Panfilov.