Prabhat Khatri: Nepalese carer took intimate photo of woman before demanding $25K

A magistrate blasted a southern Sydney carer for taking an intimate screenshot of a woman before gouging her for money and releasing it to the newlywed’s husband.

Nepalese national Prabhat Khatri has been jailed for at least 18 months after the Rockdale man took an intimate screenshot of a woman then sent it to her husband and demanded $25,000 from her.

The 27-year-old was labelled a pig when he appeared in Sutherland Court to be sentenced on Thursday.

Magistrate Roger Prowse lambasted Khatri, who has been in Australia for two years on a student visa, for his “egregious breach of trust” of the woman.

Khatri’s distributing acts of revenge porn were revealed in court before he was jailed for 22 months with a non-parole period of 18 months.

He was charged with intentionally recording an intimate image without consent, demanding with menaces with the intention to gain; intentionally distributing an intimate image without consent and using a carriage service to harass.

Prabhat Khatri was sentenced for taking an intimate screenshot of a woman during a video chat. Picture: Facebook

Agreed facts tendered to court said Khatri, who was working at the time at an aged care facility and Woolworths, would often video chat with the woman in 2021 and on three occasions requested she expose her breasts, which she did.

Khatri screenshotted the video chat and captured a photo of the victim’s face and uncovered breast, along with his own face.

The woman was unaware he took the photo and did not consent to it being taken, the documents said.

The woman wanted to stop seeing Khatri at the end of last year and he continued to contact her several times a day, prompting her to block his number.

In January, the woman travelled to Nepal in preparation for her wedding but a few days later Khatri called her through phone app Viber.

The court heard, during the call he told her, “I need $25,000 otherwise I will send the pictures to your husband” to which she replied, “what kind of picture?”

“I have your nude photos with me,” Khatri said.

The woman did not want to give him money but feared Khatri would expose and disseminate her photo so she agreed to pay him $5000 because that was how much she had available, the documents said.

The woman transferred the money but Khatri contacted the woman’s husband via WhatsApp, making the woman more scared.

About a week later, Khatri called the woman again asking her, “where’s the rest of my money?” and she replied, “I only have $3000 I can give you”.

“Transfer it or I will send the photos. When you get back to Australia you can give me the rest,” Khatri told her, the documents said.

The court heard the woman made the transfer but two days later Khatri sent two explicit photos of the woman to her husband, causing the woman to have to explain what had happened to her.

The couple blocked Khatri’s number on all apps but when the woman got back to Australia Khatri was able to contact her on her old phone number.

She received calls from a no caller ID number but upon answering and hearing Khatri’s voice she hung up, the document said.

Khatri called again and said, “When am I going to get the rest of my money” before the woman hung up and blocked the number.

The woman went to a police station on March 17 and made a report.

Investigations revealed Khatri called the woman more than 100 times between March 10 and 17.

Khatri was arrested at his home on March 31 before he was taken to Kogarah police station and charged.

In court, Khatri’s lawyer Lovemore Ndou said his client had no criminal history, had never been in custody and was deeply remorseful for his actions.

The court heard Khatri was struggling with severe anxiety and depression at the time of the offence but Magistrate Prowse did not accept that explanation for his actions.

Mr Ndou also noted Khatri attempted to pay the woman back the $8000 but Magistrate Prowse said he could not be confident the payment had been delivered to her.

Magistrate Prowse did not accept Khatri’s attempt at returning the money showed his remorse.

“When you put lipstick on a pig, the underlying characteristic is still a pig,” he said to Khatri. “You are a pig.”

Magistrate Prowse noted Khatri’s subjective material focused on the impact the offence had on him, not the welfare of the woman.

He did not accept Khatri was “infallible” as a character reference had suggested.

“You set out to breach the trust of the woman then you exploited and gouged money from her to satisfy your own greed,” Magistrate Prowse said.

“(You) had no regard for the extortion of her or harassing her.

“You knew she was in a vulnerable position going to another country (to get married).

“You ought to be paraded up and down the street as a person who is without a moral compass.”

Mr Ndou suggested his client could be given a jail sentence to be served in the community but Magistrate Prowse said not sending Khatri to jail “would be a weak and pathetic result”.

Mr Ndou immediately appealed the sentence and applied for his client to be released.

However, Magistrate Prowse refused to grant bail because there was “no reasonable likelihood for the success of the appeal”.