Canberra woman speaks of betrayal and humiliation after ex threatened to distribute intimate images
A Canberra woman said she felt “ashamed and worthless” when her ex partner threatened to distribute intimate images of her which he left in their young daughter’s bag
Canberra Star
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A Canberra woman has spoken of feeling “betrayed and completely humiliated by the man I once loved and trusted” after he threatened to distribute intimate images of her.
The man, who was one of the first to be charged under Canberra’s “revenge porn laws”, had laminated explicit posters of her which he left outside her house and in a bag belonging to their young daughter, the ACT Supreme Court heard on Wednesday.
In a powerful victim impact statement read out in court, the woman said she was being treated for depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder over his behaviour towards her following their relationship breakdown in February last year.
“(He) has made me feel ashamed and worthless as a mother by trying to publicly humiliate me in the only way he knew how and that was to expose me and to use our private things that we once did together as a couple,” she said.
“I now have massive trust issues and am anxious when meeting anyone or even seeing people that may know me from my relationship with (him) for fear of what he may have told them or even shown them about me.
“I spent countless nights awake terrified he would show up at my place waiting for revenge.
“I have been scared to the point I would not go out on my own day or night and constantly look over my shoulder as I’m sure he was watching me.
“I got to the point where I started to doubt myself and question whether he was right — am I a worthless human being?
“Is this my life now with constant abuse, threats, blackmail and harassments from (him)?”
The woman said she did not want to let the terrible situation “define” who she was and was hoping to achieve closure to the “nightmare” she had been living.
On Wednesday the man, whose name was suppressed to protect her identity, pleaded guilty to assaulting and stalking her.
He previously pleaded guilty to threatening to distribute the images and in a separate trial, he was found guilty of acts of indecency and sexual offences against the woman.
Prosecutor Rebecca Christensen told the court the man had “degraded and humiliated” the woman in a barrage of text messages which contained “threatening and aggressive tones”.
She described the images the man had threatened to distribute as “of the highest level of intimacy” before tendering them to the court in a sealed envelope.
The court heard the man committed sexual violence against the woman and had attempted to control her.
Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson said the man’s behaviour was unacceptable.
“There’s no question that women and previous intimate partners should be protected from this sort of behaviour,” she said.
The man will be sentenced on August 28.