Woman was not told but heard her own voice on uploaded material

A former Launceston chef narrowly escaped an actual jail term when sentenced for uploading sex videos to social media unknown to his then partner. HIS SENTENCE >>

Michael Elfwing heading into Launceston Magistrates Court. Picture: Nick Clark

A Launceston chef who uploaded sex videos of he and his partner to social media in an attempt to generate Onlyfans subscribers narrowly escaped a jail term when sentenced in the Launceston Magistrates Court,

Michael Christoffer Elfwing pleaded guilty to a count of publishing or distributing a prohibited visual recording between January and June 2024.

In a plea hearing in October police prosecutor Beri Kurdistan said that Elfwing and the women were in a sexual relationship between January and June 7, 2024.

She said Elfwing filmed multiple sexual encounters on his phone and uploaded them to his Twitter account, now known as X.

The eight videos were uploaded without the complainant’s knowledge to Twitter on which Elfwing had 200 followers.

Ms Kurdistan said that after the pair broke up she discovered the Twitter/X films on his account.

She said the complainant took a screenshot and sent it to her own phone before reporting the matter to police.

Michael Elfwing heading into Launceston Magistrates Court. Picture: Nick Clark

When arrested Elfwing, who was born in Sweden, told police he did not realise how distressing the publication would be for the complainant.

Before sentencing Ms Kurdistan clarified for magistrate Sharon Cure the estimated number of viewers of the material.

She said that with a public X account people could share the material.

“On some posts there were more than 7000 views and on others more than 2000 views,” she said.

She said that once uploaded Elfwing lost control of the material and it was potentially on the internet for ever.

In the plea hearing defence lawyer Olivia Jenkins submitted that the offence not revenge porn but was of a different intent.

“The intent wasn’t to embarrass or degrade, the intent was to bring some traffic to his Onlyfans site,” she said.

Ms Jenkins said Elfwing had suffered consequences including the loss of a $80,000 a year job after the complainant reported him to their mutual employer.

The court heard that he had struggled to regain employment as a chef and intended to move interstate.

She said he had worked in Kuala Lumpur, Margaret River, Japan, Sydney and the Hunter Valley.

In sentencing Ms Cure said: ”The concern I have is the volume and the views by people not known to the to the person whose privacy has been breached..”

Ms Cure said she had considered a sentence of imprisonment because of the great harm caused.

“However, the lack of prior offences, the fact he pleaded guilty indicating remorse led me to a wholly suspended term of imprisonment and that is what I will do,” she said.

“You have escaped an actual term of im[prisonment because of the mitigating factors.”

The complainant wept at times during the sentencing hearing.

Ms Cure imposed a four month jail term which was wholly suspended for two years.

She made an order that his name appear on a register under the Community Protection Offender Reporting Act for twelve months.

Originally published as Woman was not told but heard her own voice on uploaded material