A Manitoba man has been sentenced to nine months in prison after uploading intimate photos of his ex-girlfriend on Twitter in an act of revenge.
In a provincial court ruling on Monday (May 16th), published online on Monday, Judge Robert Heinrichs rejected the man’s offer to serve his sentence at home, saying his “verifiable course of action in his desire to harm” called the woman a real prison. .
The offender, who was identified in the decision only by the initials SA, pleaded guilty to charges of knowingly publishing her intimate images.
He was angry when he learned in March 2021 that his ex-girlfriend had been in a relationship with another man about a year earlier – even though they were not together at the time, Heinrichs said.
After an initial argument with her on the phone, the man called and wrote to her hundreds of times, threatening to kill the other man and post nude photos of her on the Internet.
He followed by posting about 15 photos of his hundreds of followers on Twitter and also directly on her.
“I have always said that I will reveal some if I receive them [expletive] end, “the man wrote in a separate tweet.
Low risk of recidivism
The woman quickly called the police and he was arrested about five hours later. Only then did he want to delete the photos, which the police allowed, Heinrichs said.
“There is no way to know how many people have seen the photos, saved them or shared them with anyone else,” the judge said.
Although the victim has not filed a statement of influence in court, “the damage from the crime can be both permanent and personal,” Heinrichs said.
The 20-year-old offender did not have a previous criminal record, admitted to the crime and was assessed by probation officers as a low risk of recidivism, the judge said.
However, leaving him to serve his sentence at home would not be commensurate with the crime, Heinrichs said.
“When he realized – according to his way of thinking – that she was unfaithful to him, he immediately continued to harm her as much as possible,” the judge said.
“His tweet was sent to hundreds of people he knew and had ready access through his Twitter account.
The judge added an additional 15 days to the offender’s sentence for violating his bail order, sending a message to the victim and asking her to drop the charges as soon as the police released him and told him not to contact her.
He will also serve two years of probation after his release from prison, during which time he is barred from using any social media services or contacting the victim.
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