Man Jailed For Underage Revenge Porn Facebook Post
May 25, 2016 | Events
A Hamilton man who secretly filmed a 16-year-old female friend having sex with him and later uploaded the footage to Facebook has been jailed for a year.
The man - who cannot be named without leading to the identification of his victim - was 19 at the time of his offending in January last year and is now 20.
The Hamilton District Court was told the victim had come to the defendant's family home on January 12, where they twice engaged in consensual sex.
However on the second occasion the man secretly filmed them on his cellphone.
Afterwards, the girl was made aware of his deception and asked for the video to be deleted. However he refused.
Some days later the defendant attended a weekend party, during which he uploaded the footage to his Facebook page, along with the message that the victim "should think twice next time you get between me and my brothers".
The video was made available to share and download and, Judge Merelina Burnett said, it "could have been shared many, many times over" before the man eventually removed it.
"Your offending conduct was quite determined. It shows you are self focused ...your conduct was gratuitous, revengeful and spiteful."
After being charged with publishing an intimate visual recording the man initially pleaded not guilty, before later admitting the crime.
A pre-sentence report had assessed the man as being at high risk of harm to others and at medium risk of reoffending.
"You have displayed no remorse or insight into your offending," Burnett said.
"This was revenge for rumours that had been spread about you ... You disregarded [the victim] entirely in the process."
Through his lawyer Gerard Walsh, the man admitted he had made "some very dumb decisions in his life."
From a starting point of 15 to 18 months' imprisonment, Judge Burnett gave the man a 25 per cent discount on his sentence to recognise his guilty plea and youth.
The judge granted the defendant leave to apply for home detention. She also ordered the destruction of the recording and that the defendant pay his victim $900 reparation for emotional harm.
"Revenge porn", as it is becoming known, is becoming more prevalent.
In a landmark case in 2010, a Wellington man was jailed for four months, the first time someone had been sentenced for a crime committed using social media, under the morality and decency section of the Crimes Act.
Joshua Simon Ashby, then 20, had posted a photo of his ex-girlfriend naked on Facebook in a jealous rage after they broke up.
There have been other cases since then. Jade Robert Darbyshire, 34, of Hutt Valley, was convicted in 2013 of blackmail for attempting to force his ex-girlfriend to have sex with him by threatening to distribute explicit photographs of her, if she did not comply.
Under New Zealand law the police can approach the publisher on a victim's behalf to request the removal of the material. They can also explore whether a criminal offence has been committed. Other avenues include asserting copyright ownership or pursuing civil action.
Offenders are prosecuted for crimes related to posting intimate photos online without consent, but rarely for the malicious leak itself. But that looks set to change under the Harmful Digital Communications Act - legislation formerly known as the Cyberbullying Bill - which was passed by Parliament in June last year.
The Investigators New Zealand specialise in Internet Content Removal. If you are the victim of Internet Defamation, or 'revenge-porn' then click here to contact us now for help.
Call 0800747633 for more information.
- Article originally on stuff.co.nz.
