A look at matters in which women were jailed for Cybercrime offences

Jul 17, 2022 News

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==The Court Journal==

By Renay Sambach

Kaieteur News – Cybercrime is an act that usually involves the use of a computer, networked device or a network to carry out illegal acts and is usually done with the use of the internet and the different instruments that it has available.

Guyana currently has a Cybercrime Law but some people are not even aware of it and the penalties that are attached to such offences.

For this reason, I will endeavour today to fill that void.

Some Cybercrime offences in Guyana include: illegal access to a computer system, child pornography, offences against the State, publication or transmission of images of private parts of a person and using a computer system to coerce, harass, intimidate, humiliate, etc., a person.

As examples, today I will share with you two matters in which women were jailed for sharing explicit content of others on social media platforms.

But before that, let me enlighten you a little more about the legislation. The Cybercrime Bill was presented in 2016 by Basil Williams, the Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, under the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change regime.

After it was presented to the National Assembly, the proposed Section 18, ‘Sedition’, had caused a public outcry. However, on July 20, 2018, the Coalition Government used its majority to pass the Cybercrime Bill with an amendment expunging the controversial sedition clause.

Since the passage of the Bill, numerous persons have been charged, placed before the court and even convicted.

In January 2020, a video surfaced on Facebook depicting a woman walking in on a man and woman involved in sexual activity. The said video was shared by many on multiple social media platforms. A popular singer from Jamaica had also posted the video on his Instagram page and from there other persons from the Caribbean started sharing the video.

However, due to the fact that the video was reported, it was removed from the social media platforms.

Weeks after the video went viral, two women were brought before a City Magistrate. The women, 21-year-old Melissa Ann Pestano and 23-year-old Janelle Williams, had appeared before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

On their first court appearance, the women did not waste the court’s time and admitted guilt to the offence.

The court heard that between January 20 and January 21, 2020, Williams used a cell phone to transmit data in order to humiliate the victim.

Williams was charged under Section 19 (2) a. of the Cybercrime Offences Act. That section stipulates: “A person commits an offence if he uses a computer system, to publish or transmit electronic data that is obscene, vulgar, profane, lewd, lascivious or indecent with intent to humiliate, harass or cause substantial emotional distress to another person.” On the other hand, Pestano was charged for using a computer to cause distress to the victim.

The duo was sentenced to three years in jail and fined $5 million each for sharing the sex tape of their friend.

According to reports, Pestano, Williams and the victim were friends and they were very close.

However, Pestano later found out that the victim was having an affair with her boyfriend and as such, Pestano and Williams confronted the victim and later planned to get back at her.

It was reported that the women arranged for Pestano’s boyfriend and the victim to book a room at the K&VC International Hotel located at South Road, Georgetown. Ten minutes after the two checked into the room, Pestano arrived and was given information about which room they were in. Pestano then entered the room and videoed the sex act.

Pestano had sent a copy of the video to Williams, who then shared the video with several persons. Thereafter the video was widely circulated on social media. The matter was reported and the women were later arrested and subsequently charged for the offence.

Similarly, in February 2020, a woman was also jailed for not only assaulting but posting several pictures of her ex-girlfriend, along with derogatory remarks.

According to reports, between June 22, 2020 and June 25, 2020, at Waterloo Street, North Cummingsburg, Georgetown, Roshana Hunte used a computer system to publish electronic data of her ex-girlfriend that were obscene, vulgar, profane, lewd, lascivious or indecent with intent to humiliate, harass or cause substantial emotional distress to her.

Hunte was also sentenced to three years imprisonment and ordered to pay a fine of $5M.

Notably, for cybercrime offences, anyone who is found guilty at the Magistracy level is liable to a fine of $5M and three years’ imprisonment.

However, if the matter is tried indictably and the person is found guilty of child pornography in the High Court, he/she will be liable to a fine of $10M and five years’ imprisonment.

Another charge under the Cybercrime Act is the publication or transmission of an image of the private area of a person. The law states that a person commits an offence if the person intentionally captures, stores in, publishes or transmits through a computer system, the image of the private area (naked genitals, buttocks or female breasts) of another person without his or her consent.

It also outlines that a person who commits an offence is liable, on summary conviction to a fine of $3M and to imprisonment for three years; and on conviction or indictment to a fine of $8 million and to imprisonment for five years.

 

 

 

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