Magistrate in St Vincent jails two people who shared nude pictures of woman on social media

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent, CMC - A senior magistrate in St Vincent has sentenced two people to prison after they were found guilty of defaming a woman on Facebook and distributing nude photos of her on WhatsApp.

They were each jailed for just under 10 months, fined EC$65,000, and ordered to pay EC$29,000 in compensation.

Senior Magistrate Tammika McKenzie handed down the sentences to Zarrieta Zavisha Wilson, 34, and Reno Roberts, 27, after they pleaded guilty to charges under the Cybercrime Act.

Wilson, who told the court she is pregnant, pleaded guilty to charges of using a computer system to distribute sexually explicit images of the virtual complainant (VC) that contained the personal identification information of the VC and transmitting and distributing the said images on WhatsApp.

She further pleaded guilty to a charge that she published defamatory comments about the VC when she committed the offences on October 10 of this year.

Roberts pleaded guilty to charges that, on October 10, he intentionally and without lawful excuse or justification and without the consent of the VC, used a computer system to transmit sexually explicit images of the VC that contained the personal identification information of the VC, on WhatsApp and Facebook, respectively.

The court heard that the VC was at work when Wilson approached her and accused her of having an intimate relationship with one of her co-workers.

An argument ensued between Wilson and the VC, with Wilson throwing beer in the VC's face in the presence of the co-worker she had accused the VC of being involved with.

Then, on October 10, the VC was at work when the co-worker informed her that Wilson had sent him nude photographs of her via WhatsApp. She recognised some of the photos as being of her because they contained her face, tattoos, and piercings.

The VC had known that Roberts had taken the photos without her permission and had threatened to post them on Facebook.

On October 11, several of the VC's relatives and friends telephoned her and informed her that Wilson had posted nude photos of the VC on her WhatsApp status.

The VC then received a screenshot of a Facebook post in which Wilson made the defamatory comment.

She told the police that she felt hurt, embarrassed, violated, and less of a woman because of the Facebook post.

Further, she is the only woman working at the place mentioned in the post who is known by the name mentioned. Additionally, she has a tattoo of the name.

The court heard that after Roberts saw Wilson's post, he sent her the nude photos of the VC.

Roberts also placed the photos and the VC's number in a porn group on WhatsApp, resulting in over 1,000 people soliciting her.

At the sentencing hearing, the defendants blamed each other for what had happened, with Wilson saying she did not ask Roberts to send her the photos. Roberts blamed Wilson, saying he did not tell her to post them on WhatsApp.

In handing down her sentence, the senior magistrate noted that there are no guidelines for sentencing people for cybercrimes but used the guidance of the Jamaican case Donovan Powell v. The Queen.

“I have heard both of you. Roberts, you said you want a chance — prison doesn't agree with you,” McKenzie said, adding that her duty is not only to hear the defendant.

“I have to consider the aims of sentencing, the effect on society, how you can be reformed, and deter other people,” she said.

The senior magistrate said she found Roberts' actions particularly egregious because there was no reason for him to act as he did. She noted that Wilson had said that she did not ask for the photos.

“She decided to go on Facebook and defame the woman by saying [what she said]. You wanted to illustrate your intimate knowledge of [the VC] and decided to share those photos…

“I am not satisfied that you had any justification and by virtue of what you said, you know it was a situation that could not have been in any way at all in any favour of [the VC].

“You saw what Wilson posted and you thought, 'Why not go a step further?' You went and dropped it in porn chat and shared her number, which caused over 1,000 people to be messaging her.”

Roberts said that sending the images in a porn chat was “a mistake.”

“I am happy it was a mistake,” McKenzie said, adding, “It is a mistake that I hope other people will learn from.”

For distributing the photo, the magistrate fined Roberts EC$15,000 to be paid by December 1, 2026, or one year imprisonment, to run consecutively to the 9.5-month prison term.

On the second charge of transmitting the photo, the magistrate fined Roberts EC$10,000 to be paid by April 30, 2026, or one year imprisonment, consecutive to the other prison term.

“They need to do something about this default of a year,” she said, referring to the maximum sentence that defendants who fail to pay fines are ordered to serve.

McKenzie also ordered Roberts to pay the VC compensation of EC$12,500 by October 21, 2025, or spend an additional year in prison.

The magistrate noted that Wilson's actions in making the Facebook post had spurred everything else.

She ordered Wilson to pay the VC compensation of EC$14,000 by September 30, 2025, or spend one year in prison.

“Pregnancy is no excuse,” the magistrate told Wilson as she made it clear that she, too, would serve a prison term and sentenced her to 9.5 months.

For distributing the images, she was fined EC$15,000, to be paid by September 30, 2026, or one year in prison, consecutive to the other jail terms. On the third charge, Wilson was fined EC$10,000 to be paid by March 31, 2027, or another year in prison.

The magistrate ordered that the time the defendants had spent in prison be deducted from the 9.5-month prison term and that each sentence in default of payment of the fines or compensation run consecutively to that sentence.

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