Man who threatened to publish naked pictures of girl he met online receives suspended sentence

Stephen Maguire

A young man who threatened to publish intimate pictures of a girl he met on Snapchat has received a suspended jail sentence.

The 24-year-old appeared at Donegal Circuit Court having pleaded guilty to the offences.

He pleaded guilty to a charge of threatening to publish intimate pictures of a person, intending to cause them harm.

The young man's victim was a then 17-year-old girl from Co Donegal whom he had befriended on Snapchat.

The accused, who is from Co Meath, appeared in court with his father.

Gardaí based at the girl's local Garda station in Co Donegal outlined the background to the case to barrister for the state, Ms Fiona Crawford, BL.

Snapchat

The Garda told how on July 5th, 2021, the girl came home and was in hysterics and told her mother that a man she had been in contact with on Snapchat had posted nude pictures of her on Snapchat.

The girl had outlined how she had befriended the man after getting a friend request from him and was in contact with him between January and June, 2021.

The man said he lived in Dublin and was into photography, and asked the girl to send him pictures of herself.

She said she sent 8 to 10 pictures, but that he could not see her face.

She sent pictures of herself topless and in underwear, and also a picture of her vagina.

The girl said the man also sent pictures of his penis to her, but she said she didn't open the message, while he also sent her videos of himself.

The girl then stopped contacting the man as she found a boyfriend.

The victim said that when she sent the man pictures, she asked him not to screenshot the images (so that they could not be saved or sent on), and he told her he would not.

When the girl told the man that she did not wish to remain in contact as she had a boyfriend, the man then sent her screenshots of the nude images and also a list of her Instagram followers.

And he warned her that if she did not keep doing what he wanted her to do, then he would link the people who were following her with the nude photos.

The court was told that on July 5th, 2021, the man put up the pictures online and they remained online for 24 hours, according to gardaí.

The man was also alleged to have posted the pictures online again on July 21st, 2021.

Gardaí initially said that all of the young woman's friends and the man's friends could see the pictures, but he later suggested, when cross-examined, that it may have been private to both the accused and his victim.

When the woman's mother heard about the pictures, she immediately contacted gardaí in her local Garda station in Co Donegal.

Gardaí began an investigation and visited the young man at his address in Co Meath and seized his mobile phone.

Social worker call

On November 21st, 2021, gardaí received a call from a social worker on behalf of the man, saying he had a diagnosis of autism and a prepared statement from his solicitor was handed to gardaí.

In his statement, the accused said he made the threats in the heat of an argument, but that he did not send the images to anybody else and that it was only he and the girl who could see the images.

Judge John Aylmer said if there was any level of doubt as to the level of publication, then the accused had to receive the benefit of doubt.

The victim and her mother were in court for the sentencing hearing, but the court was told the young woman did not wish to make a victim impact statement to the court.

Barrister for the accused, Mr Patrick Jackson, BL, said his client had asked that a full apology be given to his victim and that a guilty plea had been forthcoming from the earliest possible stage.

GP report

A GP's report was handed in on the accused, which stated he suffered from autism, hyperactivity, depression, dyspraxia and Tourette syndrome.

The court was told the man had been in residential care and since the age of eight, he has had the full support of an adult support team, but now lives independently.

Mr Jackson also said that the accused man had attended more than 60 counselling sessions with a psychologist and had engaged in ongoing support, and was participating well and honestly.

The man's barrister also told the court that the case had originally been intended to be disposed of summarily, but this had been refused by the district court.

Mr Jackson said he was asking the court to allow his client to consider all of this and to allow for his counselling to continue, adding that this was central to his not reoffending, while also stressing the support of his family.

Passing sentence, Judge John Aylmer described the incident as "very nasty" and "very traumatising" for the victim, but having seen the nature of the images and the evidence of the threat, he placed it at the lower end of the scale and one which merited a sentence of two years before mitigation.

In mitigation, he said the man had cooperated fully, had entered an early plea, and all of the evidence was that he had laboured through childhood with a number of medical conditions.

He said he had the benefit of a very detailed report from psychologist Dr Melissa Darmody.

Judge Aylmer said it is the case that since his adolescent years, the accused has displayed some sexually deviant tendencies and has been very real concern to his potential for offending, but said this was his first time before the courts.

He noted the accused has no previous convictions, that he had undertaken more than 60 counselling sessions, and it was clear from Dr Darmody's report that it was important these sessions continue.

For these reasons, he said he was reducing the sentence to one of sixteen months in prison.

However, he said he was anxious to incentivise the man's rehab and given that this is his first time before the court, he was proposing to suspend the sentence in its entirety to go under the care of the probation and welfare service for sixteen months.

He warned the man that in the event of any reoffending or breach of the requirement of the Probation Services, he would be returned to court and would serve the 16-month sentence.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at drcc.ie/services/helpline/ or visit Rape Crisis Help.