Cork woman describes 'devastation' after husband sent intimate images and video to other men

Images he sent were accompanied by texts of what judge described as being vile and degrading comments about his wife — sent to their friend in one instance and to a complete stranger he had met through an adult chatroom online

Accused was sentenced to two years in prison, with the last six months suspended. Picture: Dan Linehan

A 57-year-old man sent intimate photographs and videos of his wife to two other men along with offensive sexual texts and she has described the devastation caused by the betrayal by her husband after 25 years of marriage.

On Thursday, at Cork Circuit Criminal Court, he was jailed for 18 months. There is a legal prohibition on identification of the parties.

Detective Garda Brian Morris outlined the background to the case of harassment through the distribution of intimate images.

On Wednesday, August 10, 2022, the injured party examined her husband’s phone because she was suspicious about his behaviour at that time. She discovered he had taken and transmitted intimate images of her and videos of her to a person unknown to her.

In the company of two of her own siblings at the family home, she asked her husband to leave immediately and he did. One week later, a close friend of hers called to her home to say this woman’s husband had received intimate images of the victim in this case. The man who received the images from the defendant told his wife he had received them.

On a later date, the injured party made a complaint against her husband to An Garda Síochána.

The images he sent were accompanied by texts of what Judge Helen Boyle described as being vile and degrading comments about his wife — sent to their friend in one instance and to a complete stranger he had met through an adult chatroom online. 

In the images sent to the stranger, the victim’s face was pixelated.

He later told gardaí he did send the pictures, videos and comments but he had deleted all of this material from his phone on the day his wife confronted him about it in August 2022 and he said he was no longer in contact with the man he met on the website.

The images included moments when his wife was photographed without her knowledge as she got out of the shower in the family home.

Defence barrister Emmet Boyle said the accused expressed remorse and shame for his actions and the damage he caused.

They occurred between February 2021 and August 2022, each one a count of distributing or threatening to distribute an intimate image without consent with intent to cause harm or being reckless as to whether harm was caused, contrary to the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020.

Victim impact statement

“Never in my wildest nightmares could I have imagined I would have to prepare a victim impact statement in relation to sexual offences committed by my husband. It was been extremely difficult. I had to re-live a heinous discovery and re-associate myself with perverse and predatory behaviour by the man I was married to, and the father of my children. 

"I did not ask to be a victim of such abuse but it is a label that I will have to live with for the rest of my life.

“The devastation the offences caused, and will continue to cause, is probably irreparable. Overnight, suddenly and catastrophically, I became a single mum. What choice did I have? How could I place myself in further danger of being covertly photographed and videoed by a self-confessed pervert.

I barely left the house for two years. I couldn’t face anyone locally. I didn’t know who had seen the images of me — what they thought of me — it was humiliating.

“The trauma has affected me to my core and my confidence has been shattered. The invasion of privacy and the violation of my bodily integrity are both extremely distressing and horrific. How will I ever be able to trust someone again?

“I have been warned that post-traumatic stress disorder may appear at any time… It is something that I will have to live with and anticipate. The horrors of the crimes committed against me are something I will always have to live with and I feel very sad about.” 

Judge Boyle said to the accused: “You sent images to a person you met in an internet chatroom and made totally vile and degrading sexual suggestions about your wife to a complete stranger. Once you sent them to an unidentified person, you relinquished control of the images and cannot say where they went after that. You were married to this lady at the time.” 

As well as the damage to his wife, the defendant had caused a lot of damage to his children, one of whom described losing all contact with her paternal relatives since this happened, making living in the community much more difficult.

In the course of sentencing him to two years, with the last six months suspended, Judge Boyle commented: “There is no particular explanation in the report [from a clinician who dealt with the accused] on why he committed these terrible acts.”