A 43-year-old Nanaimo man pleaded guilty to publishing an intimate image of a former partner. (file photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

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NANAIMO — A twisted form of revenge against a former partner resulted in a lifelong criminal record, house arrest and probation for a Nanaimo man.

The offender, who can’t be named to protect the victim’s identity, pleaded guilty on Tuesday, Feb 27 in provincial court in Nanaimo to publishing an intimate image without consent.

Crown counsel’s Kaitlyn Tourangeau outlined the deceitful campaign by a 43-year-old man in the fall of 2021 after a long-term relationship fizzled.

Tourangeau said the victim began receiving social media messages from an anonymous account, including an intimate image she previously sent to the offender while they were dating.

“At some point Mr._____through this chat attempted to make her think he was a past abusive boyfriend, so the mental manipulation continued from there.”

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He indicated a previous boyfriend was responsible for hacking into the victim’s phone to obtain the image.

The victim’s sister, mother and a mutual friend were then sent the picture: all of whom were convinced the offender was responsible.

Nanaimo RCMP tied the offender to the messages following a search warrant.

He was cooperative with police and surrendered his phone’s password to investigators.

After reading an impact statement, judge Tamara Hodge said the victim is clearly embarrassed, incredibly upset and suffered long-lasting effects from the ordeal.

“I can only image how every time she speaks to her mother, her sister, or that mutual friend, that image is fully in the back of her head…”

Defence attorney Babak Zargarian told court the guilty plea was made despite the possibility of acquittal due to a charter issue since his client was not given access to a lawyer upon arrest.

Zargarian provided some context behind the offence.

“He was drinking heavily, he was under financial strain and he was unable to deal with his emotions properly.”

The offender has undergone 15 counselling sessions, is remorseful, ashamed, had no prior criminal record and is otherwise a law-abiding citizen and good father with a strong employment background, Zargarian told court.

Judge Hodge accepted a jointly crafted sentence recommendation of a four month conditional sentence order (CSO) with around the clock house arrest. Exclusions for work, medical appointments and parental obligations were built into the house arrest provision.

A year probation follows the CSO, which includes no contact orders, counselling and not consuming alcohol or any illicit substances without a medical subscription.

The offender declined to address the court.

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Ian.holmes@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes