Charlie Johnson, 24, of Old Mill Road in Plumstead, and Prince Singh, 23, of Hiskin Close in Charlton, encouraged their victims to carve names into themselves, wanting them to be “scarred for life”, before sharing images of those acts in an online chatroom.
Both men were charged in April 2025 with a number of offences relating to two girls who were 16 and 17 at the time of the offences, which took place throughout 2024 into January 2025.
Johnson was also convicted of physically abusing both women when they met in person.
At a sentencing hearing at Woolwich Crown Court on Wednesday, the two victims spoke about the extreme and long lasting impacts of their actions.
One of the girls said Johnson, who was in his 20s when they met, “weaponised” her youth, and said she still has “nightmares of the abuse”.
She said: “I was made to feel like everything was my fault, even when he hurt me.”
She later added: “Emotionally I felt worthless for a long time, I felt disposable and I even felt guilty that he was facing consequences.”
This case marks the first time defendants have been convicted by jury trial of assisting or encouraging serious self-harm under the Online Safety Act of 2023.
While others have pleaded guilty to offences of this type, Johnson’s trial was the first time they were tested in court.
The defendants would share “nudes” and self-harm images they received on a discord group they ran together, the court heard.
The indecent image offences both men are charged with relate to one of the two women.
After contact with Johnson, which began when the victim was living in a children’s home at 16, Singh then began messaging her, giving her “the impression that he cared”, the prosecution said.
Singh revealed his “true views” on the Discord server with Johnson, saying “I’m going to ruin her life” and expressing the desire to leave her “scarred for life”.
He wrote: “Stage one; befriend, stage two; learn the name of school and work place, stage three; sit back and drink a slush puppy while her life falls to shit.”
Evidence of the indecent images and encouraging self-harm of girls were found on various devices taken from the defendants’ bedrooms when they were arrested.
These included references and pictures of other girls who were not involved in the trial, the court heard.
One of the victims told the court on Wednesday that despite the trauma inflicted on her, she is “proud” they had stepped forward.
“We knew we had to say something to stop this happening to other girls in the future,” she said.
Johnson was convicted after trial of two counts of encouraging self-harm, two counts of distributing indecent images of a child, along with three counts of assault by beating.
He admitted two counts of making an indecent image, while Singh admitted counts of making and distributing indecent images of a child along with encouraging serious self-harm of one of the victims.
The sentencing hearing continues.
