Two people jailed for sharing nude pictures of woman on social media

KINGSTOWN (CMC):

A magistrate has sentenced to jail, two people after they were found guilty of defaming a woman on Facebook and distributing nude photos of her on WhatsApp.

They were each jailed for just under 10 months, fined EC$65,000 (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) and ordered to pay EC$29,000 in compensation.

Senior Magistrate Tammika McKenzie handed down the sentences on Zarrieta Zavisha Wilson, 34, and Reno Roberts, 27, after they pleaded guilty to charges under the Cybercrime Act.

Wilson, who told the court she is pregnant, pleaded guilty to charges of using a computer system to distribute sexually explicit images of the virtual complainant (VC) that contain the personal identification information of the VC and transmitting and distributing the said images on WhatsApp.

She further pleaded guilty to a charge that she published defamatory comments of the VC when she committed the offences on October 10 this year.

Roberts pleaded guilty to charges that on October 10 on WhatsApp and Facebook, respectively, he intentionally and without lawful excuse or justification and without the consent of the VC, used a computer system to transmit sexually explicit images of the VC that contained the personal identification information of the VC.

At the sentencing hearing, the defendants blamed each other for what had happened, with Wilson saying she did not ask Roberts to send her the photos. Roberts blamed Wilson, saying he did not tell her to post them on WhatsApp.

In handing down her sentence, the senior magistrate noted that there are no guidelines for sentencing people for cybercrimes, but used the guidance of the Jamaican case Donovan Powell v the Queen.

“I have heard both of you. Roberts, you said you want a chance – prison doesn’t agree with you,” Senior Magistrate McKenzie said, adding that her duty is not only to hear the defendant.

“I have to consider the aims of sentencing, the effect on society, how you can be reformed and deter other people,” she said.

The senior magistrate said she found Roberts’ actions particularly egregious because there was no reason for him to act as he did. She noted that Wilson had said that she did not ask for the photos.

“She decided to go on Facebook and defame the woman by saying [what she said]. You wanted to illustrate your intimate knowledge of [the VC] and decided to share those photos …

“I am not satisfied that you had any justification and by virtue of what you said, you know it was a situation that could not have been in any way at all in any favour of [the VC].

“You saw what Wilson posted and you thought, ‘Why not go a step further?’ You went and dropped it in porn chat and shared her number, which caused over 1,000 people to be messaging her.”

Roberts said that sending the images in a porn chat was “a mistake”.

“I am happy it was a mistake,” Mc Kenzie said, adding “it is a mistake that I hope other people will learn from”.