Revenge porn D-Day next month
Published:Wednesday | February 10, 2021 | 3:28 AM
The Court of Appeal is to decide on March 23 whether it will reduce the 2019 sentence of a Jamaican man who had been slapped with a 12-month prison term and $1-million fine after posting nude pictures and videos of his ex-girlfriend, American television anchor Darieth Chisolm, on the Internet.
The appellant, Donovan Powell, who had turned to revenge porn after the woman ended their romantic relationship, admitted to the court that he had posted the pictures and videos, which he had captured without the woman’s consent, to a website he had created.
He was subsequently sentenced to 12 months each on two counts of malicious communication and fined $1 million or four months on another count of malicious communication after pleading guilty to breaches of the Cybercrimes Act in the Corporate Area Criminal Court, now called the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court, in November 2019.
The sentences were to run concurrently, including the four-month sentence if the fine was not paid.
However, following sentencing, Powell’s attorney, Valerie Neita-Robertson, QC, sought leave to appeal his sentence.
Powell’s case was heard in the Court of Appeal on Monday and Tuesday before Justices Paulette Williams, David Fraser, and Marcia Dunbar-Green, who have reserved judgment until March 23.
Neita-Robertson argued that the sentence was excessive, as her client had no previous conviction and had been apologetic and remorseful.
She also added that he had pleaded guilty and had not wasted the court’s time, which had also saved the complainant the trouble of travelling to Jamaica to testify in a trial.
However, the prosecution argued that the sentence was appropriate.