Man admits Facebook offence
A restorative justice meeting may be held between a woman and a 23-year-old man who used Facebook to send her brother a nude photo of her.
The case was referred to restorative justice when the Sydenham labourer, Michael Peter Kelly, pleaded guilty to three charges in the Christchurch District Court today.
Judge Paul Kellar remanded Kelly on bail to October 26 for sentence, and for a pre-sentence report to consider his suitability for home or community detention.
He referred the case to restorative justice at the suggestion of defence counsel Ros Burnside who said she believed a meeting between Kelly and the victim could be worthwhile.
Kelly pleaded guilty to charges of intimidating the woman by threatening to damage her house, causing harm by posting a digital communication, and possession of pipes for smoking cannabis.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Jeff Kay said Kelly met the woman at a party and had an intermittent relationship with her. She broke it off several times, citing his jealous behaviour.
Once when she visited two friends, she found him waiting outside. “You’ve screwed yourself real bad this time,” he told her, and threatened to “buy gasoline”.
When she asked what he meant, Kelly replied: “That’s for me to know and your house to find out.”
During the relationship, the woman had sent Kelly nude photographs of her breasts and buttocks over Facebook, and he had saved them to his phone.
After the relationship ended, he threatened to send the images to the woman’s family and friends, and then he did send them to two of his male associates and to the woman’s brother.
The police then made inquiries, and at Kelly’s address they found three cannabis pipes.
Kelly told the police the threat to the house was “only intimidation” and he would never have done it.
Category: News
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