(SNO) — The police in Saint Lucia are urging those who have fallen victim to revenge porn to come forward so that they can go after the perpetrators.
With the advent of smart phones and social media, the problem has grown significantly, not only in Saint Lucia, but worldwide.
Revenge porn is described as “revealing or sexually explicit images or videos of a person posted on the Internet, typically by a former sexual partner, without the consent of the subject and in order to cause them distress or embarrassment”.
While he could not put a figure of such incidents reported on the island, Sergeant Shervon Matthieu told Choice Media Network that it is an offence to circulate nude photos or videos of someone without consent.
“Section 313 of the Criminal Code, is libel, where it speaks of publishing any defamatory character of a person meaning like any video, any naked photo of that person without their consent,” he explained. “That person could be charged under libel which is Section 313 of our Criminal Code.”
But the code goes further. Those who circulate such photos and images are equally liable to be prosecuted as the ones who originally did the posting could face harsher punishments.
“It’s a criminal offence,” Matthieu told Choice. “Now in criminal offences, we have what you call aiding and abetting. There are accessories before and accessories after the fact. So let’s say for instance, I sent it to you and you send it out to another person, you are still liable to be arrested and charged for the offence, just like the first person who sent it out.”
Matthieu warns that people should restrain from taking photos that could probably land them in hot water.
“Remember, when you take those photos, it’s there, it’s on the internet,” he stated. “So think about what if your phone gets lost or if your laptop gets stolen, what if your Ipad gets stolen and you have those photos on there, what would happen.”
He encouraged anyone who have been victims of revenge porn to make a report at the nearest police station.
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