SELECTED CASE LAW
ONTARIO:
In 2018 ONSC 4726, Mr. B, a 30-year-old man, pleaded guilty to publishing images of Ms. T without her consent following the breakdown of their intimate relationship. Mr. B created a fake Facebook page using Ms. T’s full name and posted five intimate images of her on the page that he had taken during their relationship. Ms. T had not given him permission to share those images with anyone. 96 people, including her employer, co-worker, family and friends were invited to “friend” her on Facebook and viewed the images.
The court noted “It was only through a position of trusted intimacy that he was able to take and retain the intimate images in question. He then betrayed that trust in a horribly deliberate and egregious manner, calculated to repay Ms T.’s trust by subjecting her to extreme humiliation and embarrassment vis-à-vis her friends, family and coworkers.”[1] This was considered an aggravating factor along with the fact that the image contained her face and close ups of her genitals and anal region, the ongoing negative impact on Ms. T, the inability to control the images once they have been released online, and the deliberateness of creating the impersonation account. Mitigating factors included his new relationship and family.
Mr. B was sentenced to a 16 months’ conditional sentence and three years’ probation, additional orders included a $200 victim surcharge fine, a no contact order with the victim, and a DNA order.
[1] 2018 ONCJ 82 at para 44.
Criminal Offence(s): Non-Consensual Sharing of Intimate Images