Man who posted intimate images of teenage girlfriend to 1,100 social media followers after break-up is jailed

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A young man who posted a collage of intimate images of his teenage girlfriend on social media to his 1,100 followers after they broke up has been jailed for six months.

The 20-year-old Dublin man, who can’t be named to protect the identity of his victim, committed the offence in 2021 just months after it became a criminal offence to post intimate images of someone online without their consent, defence counsel told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court today.

The man pleaded guilty to one count of distributing intimate images of his ex-girlfriend without her consent within the State on September 21, 2021. He has no previous convictions.

Judge Dara Hayes noted that this was a new offence, the legislation for which only came into effect seven months before the man committed the offence.

“It is a modern problem with the ubiquity of smart phones and the internet,” the judge said before he noted that because of the man’s followers the “potential audience” for those images was 1,100 people.

He also noted that the man could not know how many of those people saved the images or redistributed them. “That is something that cannot be controlled by him once it is sent out into the ether,” he said.

The judge said the need for general deterrence must weigh more heavily in these cases which are usually committed by men against a female partner and that a custodial sentence is required given the level of harm that can be caused.