Singapore – Most people facing the kind of legal charges that YouTuber Dee Kosh does would keep mum and let their lawyers sort out their defence.
But Dee Kosh – real name Darryl Ian Koshy – isn’t most people.
He has a following of 382,000 and his YouTube videos have been viewed 86 million times. So of course, that is where he went to present his own case.
In a YouTube video on Wednesday (Jan 26) night, Dee Kosh addressed the seven charges he faces, and said he “would just like to share [his] truth”.
Dee Kosh was charged with seven offences in August last year: three charges of offering cash to boys below 18 for sexual services, three more charges under the Films Act, and one under the Children and Young Persons Act. He calls it “the CYPA charge” in the video.
Dee Kosh is defended by lawyers from Eugene Thuraisingam LLP including Mr Johannes Hadi and Mr Joel Wong.
Mr Wong told District Judge Terence Tay on Tuesday that the prosecution was ready to proceed with the case and the defence lawyers’ instructions were that their client is “ready to take a certain course of action”.
The lawyer asked for 10 to 12 weeks to sort out the agreed statement of facts, because of “some complexities so it might take some time to work out”.
The offences are said to involve at least four boys aged between 15 and 17.
In the almost 10-minute-long clip, Dee Kosh says: “I am not a paedophile, I never have been, nor will I ever be”. He added that he voluntarily underwent a psychological assessment where it was found that he did not “fulfil the diagnostic criteria” for paedophilia.
“Many convoluted headlines in the media” he said had painted a picture of him as a paedophile, that he insists he is not. The pornographic content that was found in his possession, he says, was not of minors and were “adult films”.
“I really should have known better and I apologize for my behaviour and my text messages”, he said, adding that he did not specifically target individuals who were 17 years of age.
“However I would like to make clear again these facts: There was no sex, there was no molestation, I did not touch them, there was no physical contact at all”. Dee Kosh said that on some dating apps, people whom he assumed to be over the age of 18 were not.
In Feb 2017, he allegedly asked a 16-year-old male for sexual services in exchange for a payment of $2,000. Between March and June 2018, he allegedly offered money to a 15-year-old male, also for sexual services.
In July 2018, he allegedly offered a 17-year-old male $1,000 for sexual services, and in August 2020, he allegedly offered the same amount to another 17-year-old, also for sexual services.
He said would plead guilty on March 10 and said “I am ready to receive whatever consequence the law has for me, even if it means going to jail.” He also teared up while thanking his family, friends and fans for supporting him, and tried to crack a joke: “Looks like I can film Food King Changi Prison edition. Oh wait, no more Food King already”./TISG