MMA instructor jailed for sex with minors, possession of child pornography

Joshua Robinson, an American mixed martial arts instructor living in Singapore, was sentenced to four years in jail for a slew of sex offenses.

As reported by Channel News Asia last week, Joshua Robinson – a mixed martial arts instructor in Singapore – was sentenced to four years in jail for crimes committed against minors in 2015. The 39-year-old American pleaded guilty to nine charges, including three counts of having sex with minors under the age of 16, five for making and possessing obscene films, and one for showing an obscene film to a minor.

According to Vanessa Paige Chelvan of Channel News Asia, Robinson met a 15-year-old girl over the social networking site MeetMe in early 2015. The report continues to state that after chatting online, Robinson persuaded the girl to exchange phone numbers and nude photographs. Throughout their communication Robinson would describe the sexual acts he would like to perform with the minor. He also told her he had a fetish for schoolgirls in uniform.

Robinson met with the girl at a train station in June, 2015. The girl was wearing a school uniform at the time. Robinson then took her to his apartment, where they had sex. Robinson recorded the incident on his cellphone.

Later that day, the girl told her parents what had happened. The parents then went to the authorities. 48-hours later police raided Robinson’s apartment. Almost 6,000 ‘obscene films’ were discovered in Robinson’s possession. 321 of these videos were defined as child pornography. In Robinson’s apartment, officers also found a digital folder labelled ‘Fifteen.’ In it were 12 films of him having sex with a separate 15-year-old girl. Robinson met this girl on the dating site OkCupid in 2013.

In July 2015 Robinson was out on bail while awaiting trial. During this time Robinson showed a six-year-old girl a video of a woman engaging in a sexual act with him. This incident took place at BJJ Singapore, a gym in the city’s Peace Centre shopping mall. The incident happened while the girl’s father was training. The girl later told her mother what had happened.

During his trial Robinson was described as a ‘sexual predator’ by deputy public prosecutor Nicholas Lai. “[Robinson] groomed and morally corrupted his young victims,” said Lai. To highlight the threat posed by Robinson, DPP Lai also pointed out that Robinson had had sex* with the minors during their first encounters with him.

Mervyn Tan, a lawyer for Robinson, stated that his client was “totally devastated” by the incidents for which he plead guilty. During sentencing Tan provided a number of testimonials to the court which had been provided by Robinson’s family and friends, including his mother and girlfriend. Those records stated that Robinson had a ‘generous heart’ and that he was a ‘respected MMA instructor’ who donated to charity.

According to Channel New Asia Robinson was eligible for 10 years in jail and a fine for each charge of sexual penetration of a minor. For possession of child pornography he was eligible for six months jail time and a fine of $350 per item (up to $14,000). Robinson was sentenced to four years in prison. It is unclear whether he also received a fine.

Channel News Asia reported that Singapore’s Minister for Law and Home Affairs K Shanmugam said he understands there is ‘public disquiet’ over Robinson’s sentence. The minister further stated that the country’s Attorney General was ‘looking into’ the case. On Sunday, an online petition appealing for a harsher sentence for Robinson appeared on the website change.org. At this time of writing, the petition had been signed 28,890 times.

*Robinson’s offenses were not classified as ‘sexual assaults’ by the Singaporean courts.