‘I learned how to live’: Acquitted ex-Wah!Banana actor Lev Panfilov opens up about nearly 3 years in jail
Former Wah!Banana actor Lev Panfilov has opened up about the five-and-a-half-year ordeal that saw him accused of rape, convicted and jailed before eventually being acquitted on appeal.
In an Instagram post on Oct 2, the 30-year-old Singapore permanent resident framed his experience like a movie that suddenly changed genre.
“I’ve always loved movies. I just didn’t think I would spend five and a half years guessing what genre mine had become,” he wrote.
Panfilov said that at 24, he had been acting, fencing and making comedy videos, and was preparing to move to New York to study acting on a scholarship.
“Life was on the up and up, until someone changed it to the down and down,” he wrote.
‘I went on a date and was accused of something I did not do’
Panfilov said his life changed after a date in 2021.
“In the blink of an eye, it became a thriller,” he wrote. “I went on a date and was accused of something I did not do.”
He added: “Suddenly, the future I’d been planning was put on hold.”
Panfilov had matched with a woman on Tinder and met her for a meal before they went to his condominium unit on Jan 12, 2021.
He maintained that their sexual encounter was consensual, while the woman later lodged a police report alleging sexual assault.
He was charged in December 2021 and eventually went on trial in May 2023.
“I felt like I was living in this mystical world where things were happening, and I didn’t, I couldn’t understand why they were happening to me,” he said in an interview with CNA.
Father died while case was ongoing
Panfilov also reflected on losing his father while he was under investigation.
“My father was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour,” he wrote alongside a photo of the pair.
“Twice, I tried to get permission to travel to Russia to see him. Twice, I was denied. I was only allowed to go after he had passed, to pay my respects.”
CNA reported that Panfilov was eventually allowed to travel to Russia for his father’s funeral, after which his bail was increased from $80,000 to $120,000.
“I stayed there for about a month, and then I came back to Singapore to fight the trial because I believed I was innocent,” he said.
He later tried to leave Singapore on an undeclared second passport after another application to visit his ailing elderly grandfather in Russia was rejected.
He was stopped at the airport and remanded in jail while his trial continued.
Sentenced to 11½ years’ jail
Panfilov said in his post that the court case stretched over more than 20 days and involved three sets of lawyers.
He estimated that his family spent almost half a million dollars on legal fees.
“Then the sentence came: 11½ years in prison,” he wrote.
In May 2025, the High Court sentenced him to 11 years and six months’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane after convicting him of two counts of rape, one count of sexual assault by penetration and one count of molestation.
‘For a long time, this became my world’
Panfilov described spending 23 hours a day in a seven-square-metre cell, with one hour in the yard.
“A straw mat on the floor. No bed,” he wrote. “I lived alongside people serving a few years, twenty years, even life.”
He added: “For a long time, this became my world.”
CNA reported that he was held in three different types of cells during his time in custody and was eventually housed in Changi Prison’s A1 cluster, which accommodates inmates serving lengthy sentences.
Despite the circumstances, Panfilov said he found ways to keep going.
“I found my why in books and faith, in friends and family, in a cappella songs in my cell and reciting comedy .And in my mother,” he said. “While I fought from the inside, she fought for me on the outside.”
I didn’t just learn how to survive. I learned how to live.
CNA reported that he read more than 100 books, attended religious counselling, became a Christian and enrolled in prison school to prepare for his GCE A-Levels.
Acquitted of charges
On Sept 2, Panfilov’s appeal was allowed, and all four convictions were overturned.
The Court of Appeal found material inconsistencies in the woman’s testimony which, taken together, gave rise to reasonable doubt in the prosecution’s case.
Panfilov had spent almost three years in jail by the time he was released.
“After almost three years in prison, fortnightly 20-minute family visits, 1,000 pages of court transcripts picked apart by my mum, my lawyers and me, and my girlfriend standing by me through it all... the day finally came,” he wrote.
“Five and a half years after it all began — I was acquitted.”
According to CNA, his current girlfriend, whom he had known for years before they started dating in 2021, also visited him in prison weekly or monthly, depending on visit availability.
‘Perhaps it is a feel-good movie after all’
Panfilov ended his post on a more hopeful note.
“Perhaps it is a feel-good movie after all,” he wrote.
“As for what genre comes next? I don’t know. But for the first time in a long time, I get to choose.”
His post drew messages of support from followers, with several praising his resilience and wishing him well.
“I wish you only the happiest days in your life from today onwards,” said one, while another said: “Life owes you some beautiful chapters ahead.”
Another added: “You survived hell and came back stronger, newer and bolder. You will shine again bro.”
Panfilov told CNA that even crossing the road initially felt unfamiliar after years in prison. He remained relieved but was also dealing with grief over the years he had lost.
“My faith in the Singapore judicial system has been restored,” he said.
“But it’s a type of relief that is mixed with a lot of grief... and a type of darkness.”
Explore more on these topics
See something interesting? Contribute your story to us.
