After overturning of rape conviction, Wah! Banana actor Lev Panfilov thanks mum, girlfriend for standing by him

SINGAPORE: No doubt about it, the past few years have been challenging for Lev Panfilov, who gave the public an inside look recently, posting on social media for the first time since March 2022.

Mr Panfilov, well-known in Singapore as a TikToker and Wah! Banana actor, was born in Russia in 1996 and moved to the city-state as a teen, later becoming a Permanent Resident.

He was convicted on Mar 21, 2025, of raping a woman he had met on a dating app. He had claimed in his defence that the Jan 12, 2021 encounter had been consensual. Two months later, he received a jail sentence of 11 and a half years, plus 12 strokes of the cane.

However, on Sep 2, the Court of Appeal acquitted him of four charges for rape, sexual assault and molestation, though by then he had spent almost three years behind bars.

On Oct 2, Mr Panfilov posted an Instagram carousel which he captioned, “It's been a tough couple of years. I'm glad to be back.”

Amid not seeing his father before he died, the trial, the sentencing, and incarceration, he “found his why,” and credited his mother for fighting for him, and his girlfriend for standing by him through everything.

From feel-good movie to thriller

He wrote that his life had once felt like a “feel-good movie.” At the age of 24, he was doing the things he loved and was on his way to New York on an acting scholarship.

“Life was on the up and up, until someone changed it to the down and down,” he added, as his life turned into a thriller.

As for the incident that turned his life upside down, he wrote that he had gone on a date and ended up being “accused of something I did not do,” which led to an investigation.

While Mr Panfilov initially thought his troubles were temporary, he ended up with an ordeal that lasted over five years.

While awaiting trial, his father, who lived in Russia, was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour. Although he applied to travel to visit him twice, he was denied both times and was only allowed to pay his respects after his father died.

His trial began after he returned to Singapore, involving three sets of lawyers and nearly S$500,000 in legal fees.

After he was sentenced to jail, “life became grim,” he wrote.

He wrote that he spent 23 hours each day in a cell spanning seven square meters, with one hour in the yard as the only reprieve. His cell had no bed, only a straw mat

“For a long time, this became my world,” he wrote.

However, in spite of all that, he found his reason to keep on going: “in books and faith, in friends and fancy, in a cappella songs in my cell, and in reciting comedy.”

Most of all, he found it in his mother.

“While I fought from the inside, she fought for me on the outside,” he wrote, adding that in jail, he “learned how to live.”

He added that his mum, together with his lawyers and himself, picked apart a thousand pages of court transcripts, which led to his appeal being heard and his eventual acquittal. 

At the end of his post, Mr Panfilov said he doesn’t know what comes next for him.

“But for the first time in a long time, I get to choose,” he added. /TISG

Read also: Rape conviction of Singapore-based YouTuber & Wah! Banana actor overturned