Judge questions woman's remorse in posting sex pics 'for all to see'

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A woman who posted sexually explicit pictures of her partner’s ex-girlfriend to several online sites has received an electronically-monitored sentence after failing to show much remorse.

Last week in Gisborne District Court, Judge Turitea Bolstad refused to impose a recommended lesser sentence of supervision noting the offender hadn’t engaged with an intervention plan specially formulated for her as part of the usual Young Adults list protocol.

It showed the woman lacked remorse and had no willingness to address her offending behaviour, the judge said.

Had she engaged with the plan, the court would have considered imposing the sentence recommended by the probation service and advocated for by counsel Vicki Thorpe. However, the woman’s failure to engage meant there needed to be a more punitive focus. The judge instead imposed three months community detention.

The 24-year-old offender, whose name is withheld to protect the victim’s identity, had previously pleaded guilty to posting a harmful digital communication. She was to be sentenced early last month but the judge had adjourned the fixture for a restorative justice conference.

In court last week, the judge was told the conference hadn’t gone ahead as having canvassed the parties, the Restorative Justice service deemed the case unsuitable.

According to an agreed summary of facts, the complainant — who used to be in a relationship with the offender’s boyfriend — had once sent him sexually explicit pictures and videos of herself. She did not intend for anyone else to view them.

However, the offender — with whom he later become involved  and with whom he has a child — found the pictures earlier this year and posted them online along with the victim’s full name and address.

The victim was advised about the offending in Facebook messages sent by strangers.

Questioned later by police, the offender said: “This is what you get when you send pics to someone’s man” and “she couldn’t have expected them to be a secret”.

In court, the offender was tearful throughout the sentencing hearing. She said her home life was OK but she was considering moving away from Gisborne next year.

The judge said a pre-sentence report confirmed the woman had no previous convictions and that she was having trouble in her relationship at the time.

She told the report writer that she had tried at the time to address the issues that led to her frustration and accepted she had overstepped the mark and could have dealt with the situation differently.

Judge Bolstad said the offending was deliberate. The woman had published photos of the victim “for all to see”. In doing so the woman left the victim and her young child vulnerable.

“The impact for her (the victim) has been huge.

“This is a small town. She (the victim) works and has a young child. You would’ve known all of that and the implications for her and from my perspective this offending was nasty and hurtful and probably a situation where you should have turned to your partner as opposed to offending against her (the victim),” the judge said.

Calculating the sentence, the judge adopted the starting point of 10 months imprisonment as submitted by Ms Thorpe and gave the woman a full 25 percent discount for her guilty pleas and a further 15 percent discount for her youth.

The judge said it was appropriate to convert the remaining sentence to community detention. The sentence also covered the woman’s fines debt of $1964, which the judge wiped.

She wished the woman “all the best”.