Manitoba man sentenced in 'egregious' intimate image betrayal case involving his ex-girlfriend

A 36-year-old Brandon, Man., man has been sentenced to a nine-month custodial sentence in an "egregious" intimate image betrayal case after he uploaded sexually explicit videos of his then-pregnant ex-girlfriend to a popular porn website without her consent.

A version of the victim's name was used in the video's Pornhub titles, some videos showed the victim's face and in another her pregnant belly was visible, a decision filed at provincial court on Feb. 13 says.

"The accused's reckless, at best, disregard for the victim's privacy and dignity caused immeasurable harm and irreparable damage," said Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta.

"Compounding the damage is the reality that the perpetrator is the father of her children."

The man posted multiple explicit videos of his ex-girlfriend to his Pornhub account — with his privacy controls set to restrict views to the account's 18 friends and seven subscribers — and texted her a link to one of the videos four days after her birthday, the decision says.

The victim reported the man to police who executed a production order for the videos, which at the time of the investigation had been viewed a total of over 1,700 times.

Neither the woman nor the accused were named in the decision.

Victim impact 'profound devastation'

The man was found guilty by a judge for non-consensual distribution of intimate images, a law that came into effect in 2016.

Hewitt-Michta said because the Brandon man posted "multiple videos of explicit sexual activity involving a previous intimate partner" to a public website, his actions fell high on the range of personal culpability.

"He was so cavalier about using a version of the victim's name, when he appears to have avoided any identifying reference to himself in the name or descriptions in his account," said Hewitt-Michta.

There is no way to know if people watching the videos duplicated them and distributed them further or how many people were watching during each viewing, Hewitt-Michta said.

"Those factors contribute to a further aggravating factor, which is the pronounced and crushing victim impact."

The woman shared a victim impact statement that spoke to the "profound devastation" she felt from knowing such intensely intimate videos were posted online, Hewitt-Michta said, and shared how she now has anxiety while in public.

'Barely acknowledged the victim'

Previous cases were submitted during arguments to decide sentencing by both the defence and prosecution. 

One case involved a 26-year-old man with no criminal record, who uploaded two videos of himself and a victim to his Pornhub account. The man removed the images himself and apologized, and received a suspended sentence.

In another case, a 32-year-old man uploaded images and videos with his ex-girlfriend's name attached that were "intended to humiliate her." He had no criminal record and pleaded guilty to non-consensual distribution of intimate imagery, receiving a custodial sentence of five months. 

Ultimately, Hewitt-Michta sentenced the Brandon man to a nine-month custodial sentence and two years probation. He was also ordered to pay a court cost and victim surcharge of $202.

While the man is Indigenous, the judge said Gladue factors — systemic and background factors that affect Indigenous people —  did not diminish his moral culpability in the case.

"He was not young, addicted or in the throes of a mental health crisis when he committed the offence," Hewitt-Michta said.

The man has no prior criminal record and is an educated business owner who is knowledgeable about and connected to his Indigenous culture, and is considered a very low risk to reoffend, the decision says.

He didn't acknowledge responsibility or articulate remorse in a pre-sentence report — which helps judges to determine an appropriate sentence — and did not present throughout proceedings as particularly repentant, Hewitt-Michta said.

"His brief apology was not compelling or persuasive and barely acknowledged the victim," said Hewitt-Michta.

"The sentence must reflect the intentional risk the accused took in respect of the victim's privacy and dignity ... and the extent to which the accused's conduct offends the high value society places on sexual integrity, privacy, and dignity."