A man from Yellowknife has been handed a 12-month prison term for sharing explicit videos of his ex-partner on social media without her consent. The 36-year-old individual was found guilty after a trial for distributing intimate images without consent. The offender’s identity is being withheld by CBC to protect the victim’s anonymity.
In a ruling issued on July 29 by N.W.T. Territorial Court judge Stephanie Whitecloud-Brass, it was decided that a community-based sentence was inadequate due to the significant breach of trust, high moral culpability, and retaliatory nature of the offense. Following the 12-month imprisonment, the man will undergo 18 months of probation, perform 60 hours of community service, provide a DNA sample, and participate in mandatory counseling.
The court documents revealed that the man and the victim initially met on a dating app in May 2023, leading to both a professional and romantic relationship. While the victim had agreed to record videos of their intimate moments, she explicitly stated that any content revealing her face or identifiable tattoos should never be made public.
Despite these clear boundaries, the man uploaded two explicit videos to his public account on X platform in July 2024, just two days after the relationship ended. The court determined that his actions were vindictive, aimed at causing harm and embarrassment to his former partner post-breakup. The videos remained online for about 46 days before the victim discovered them, with one video fully showing her face and the other featuring a distinctive tattoo on her body. Initially reluctant, the man deleted the first video only after being directly contacted by the victim.
The court classified the offense, commonly known as “revenge porn,” as a form of intimate partner violence, privacy violation, and sexual misconduct. Judge Whitecloud-Brass emphasized in the sentencing that due to the videos being shared on a public account with 285 followers, the potential reach was vast, making it impossible to determine if users had downloaded or redistributed the content. Despite the defense’s plea for a non-custodial sentence with probation, the judge deemed a community-based penalty inadequate.
The victim’s impact statement highlighted the profound emotional distress caused by the incident, including feelings of vulnerability, anxiety, and insomnia. As part of his probation terms, the convicted individual is banned from accessing social media platforms except for personal or business-related emails, and is prohibited from contacting or approaching the victim.