Local content creator Kiki Darling has resigned from director Jack Neo’s film Ah Boys to Firefighters (ABTF) after his past sexual assault conviction was revealed.
Content creator S Subhraaj posted an Instagram video on Monday (Sept 7), where he alleged that Kiki’s real name is Hari Kishen Balakrishnan, who underwent reformative training after he was found guilty of sexually assaulting his drunk friend in November 2020.
What happened
CNA reported in September 2021 that Hari met up with the 23-year-old male victim and two of their female friends at the Read Bridge area on Nov 7, 2020. They chatted till morning and their female friends went home.
Hari, then 20, and the victim bought alcohol and cigarettes from a convenience store and continued chatting in the vicinity.
After the victim’s mobile phone ran out of battery, Hari suggested they could charge the phone and continue to drink at their friends’ apartment.
At the apartment, Hari offered the victim three to four glasses of whiskey mixed with mineral water and the victim soon passed out from it.
Hari took him to a bedroom where he sexually assaulted the victim for about 17 minutes.
The victim was almost unconscious and had no strength to fight back, although he could feel what Hari did to him, and did not consent to it before passing out.
Hari also filmed seven clips of the sexual assault, which he deleted later.
The victim eventually regained enough strength to wake up. He was furious and wanted to beat up Hari but didn’t do so because their friends were around.
He made a police report on the same day, and Hari was arrested the following day with his mobile phone seized. Police recovered the clips during investigations.
As Hari was underage at the time of sentencing on Sept 1, he was given six months of reformative training. He turned 21 later that month.
The prosecution said then that had he been sentenced as an adult offender, he could have been jailed for at least six years and caned.
J Team’s response to Kiki Darling’s conviction
Further checks done by AsiaOne show that Kiki had posted a photo taken with his North-West Outstanding All Rounder Student Award 2025 on his LinkedIn profile.
On the certificate, his name is reflected as “Hari Kishen S/O Balakrishnan”.
AsiaOne reached out to Jack, Kiki and S Subhraaj for comment.
The latter told AsiaOne on Sept 8 that he had posted the video because he thought it would “at least be fair for people to know this side of the story”.
“To me, this is justice for the victim,” he added.
By the morning of Sept 9, Kiki had removed several of his Instagram posts, including the ones where he celebrated being cast in ABTF.
In response to our queries, Jack’s J Team Productions said on Sept 9 evening that they were “very surprised” to hear about Kiki’s conviction.
They added: “None of the production crew was aware of his previous conviction as none of the cast members had declared they had any prior convictions.”
J Team also shared that Hari had quit ABTF, where he originally played one of the four main roles as full-time national serviceman Ramesh Menon.
“After communicating with Kiki, he decided to resign from his role. He also understands that if we were to continue with him, given that he is one of the main characters, there are potential reputational risks in us casting him,” they said.
J Team also shared that they are in the midst of recasting Ramesh, planning reshoots and executing necessary edits for the film.
“It should not have much impact on the theatrical release plans,” they concluded.
Kiki has not replied to AsiaOne or commented on his Instagram account as of press time.
Ah Boys to Firefighters is slated for release during Chinese New Year in 2027.
[[nid:744074]]
yeo.shuhui@asiaone.com
No part of this article can be reproduced without permission from AsiaOne
Read the full article here
