A man has been jailed for five months at Derry Magistrate's Court for filming a woman engaging in a sex act with him and posting it on social media.
Dale Kelly (23) of Bradley Park in Derry had been convicted of a charge of voyeurism and one of improper use of electronic communications system on June 6th, 2020.
The court heard that police were told by the injured party that Kelly had filmed her engaged in a sexual encounter that occurred at the defendant’s address.
She was unaware that this was being filmed and then it was uploaded to Kelly’s social media account on Snapchat.
The woman’s face was not visible but she was identifiable by a tattoo and her friends recognised her within hours. The victim contacted Kelly as she knew it could only have been filmed by him.
At interview, he admitted filming the sexual act but denied deliberately posting it on social media.
Defence counsel Andrew Moriarty said his client made the case he thought he was saving the footage and actually posted it instead. He said Kelly had offered the injured party “a humble apology” and said it had been “an impulsive act on his behalf”.
The barrister said that the incident had occurred after a two day drinking binge by the defendant and said it was “a rush of blood to the head” and was not malicious.
District Judge Barney McElholm said this was “an extremely upsetting experience” for the woman. He said Kelly had not sought her permission before filming her and if he had it may have been a different situation.
“Frankly I don’t believe a word of his story about sending it by mistake,” he said.
He said Kelly had caused “severe emotional damage” to the woman. He sentenced him to five months in prison, imposed a Restraining Order until 2025 and also imposed a Sexual Offender’s Prevention Order.
Kelly also has to sign the sex offender’s register for a period of seven years.