Man sent sexual photographs of his ex to her 19 year-old son

Man sent sexual photographs of his ex to her 19 year-old son

10 October 2018

A DRUMANESS man who sent 36 private sexual photographs of his former partner to her 19 year-old son has been given two-and-a-half years’ probation.

Vincent James Rice (54), of Crawfordstown Road, admitted two counts of disclosing the photographs on July 14 last year.

At Downpatrick Crown Court on Thursday, a prosecutor said the offence of disclosure of private photographs was a relatively new one for Northern Ireland.

The prosecutor asked for a charge of harassment against Rice to be left on the books and not to be proceeded with.

Judge Piers Grant said that Rice’s decision to send photographs to the woman’s son, as well as a male friend, was “deliberate, calculated and degrading done to cause maximum distress”.

The court heard that pictures had been taken at a day spent at the beach when Rice and the victim were in a relationship.

A barrister told the court that the woman had ended the relationship, which Rice struggled to accept.

The sending of the photographs culminated after Rice persistently tried to contact the woman by phone calls and texts.

Records showed that Rice phoned the victim 19 times in less than an hour on the morning of May 14, said the barrister. This was followed up with more phone calls and texts over lunchtime.

The victim contacted Rice to say that the relationship was over and to stop contacting her at her place of work.

It was claimed Rice also sent a Facebook message to a male friend of the woman, telling them both to “check out Facebook in ten minutes”. The male friend alerted the victim to Rice’s contact with him.

The court was told that things badly escalated from 5.20-6.40pm that evening when Rice, fuelled with drink, tried 20 times to contact to the victim who alerted the police.

Police called with Rice at around 6.30pm and warned him to stop the harassment of the woman. 

However, a barrister said that by 6.45pm, just after police had left, the woman’s son had received a message request from Rice.

When he clicked on it, several photographs were downloaded, which he alerted his mother about. A similar message had been sent to a male friend of the victim.

In mitigation, a defence barrister acknowledged his client’s problem with drink. “Alcohol and the abuse of alcohol has led to the destruction of this man.”

Describing Rice’s actions as “disgusting, mean and wicked”, Judge Grant said: “These photographs were taken with the victim’s agreement but were clearly intended to be of a private nature between you both.”

Judge Grant told Rice that he was escaping a prison sentence as he had already spent eight months in custody on remand. 

He added: “Rest assured, if you come back to me, there will be no second chances.”