The age of technology, social media and smart phones has boomed dramatically in the past 10 years. With the boom of these new advancements, it has become more common for people (including young children) to be posting and sharing inappropriate material online or simply to friends. It has also become very common for explicit sharing of videos. Obviously with the growth of all this new technology and the use of technology for improper means, the Law has advanced itself to keep up with such offences. There are now laws against filming others without their permission and distributing those photos and videos. Tyrone May, a Penrith Panthers NRL player was recently arrested and charged with allegations that he filmed and distributed explicit videos of two women.
THE STORY
It is reported that Penrith NRL player Tyrone May has returned to Court facing charges of recording and distributing sexual acts without consent.
The police allege that Mr May filmed two women without their knowledge while they engaged in sexual acts on separate occasions in Coffs Harbour and Kingswood, in Sydney’s west, in 2018.
The two women say that they were unaware they were being filmed by Mr May and did not consent to the recording or its distribution. Magistrate Carl Milovanovich adjourned the matter to June 24, giving May’s lawyers a week to go through the brief of evidence.
Mr Milovanovich is the second Magistrate to preside over May’s case, after Geoffrey Hiatt formally disqualified himself from the matter “for the sake of fairness to all” on May 1. Mr Hiatt’s father, John Hiatt, had previously served as the deputy chairman of the Penrith Panthers Club.
May was initially charged in March after handing himself in to police following the release of the sex tapes on the internet. He is currently on Bail and was stood down that same month by the Panthers under the NRL’s controversial “no fault” policy for serious criminal charges.
It was further reported that the daughter of Penrith Panthers great Mark Geyer is suing the administrator of a Facebook page over allegations relating to an alleged sex tape involving NRL player Tyrone May. It claims Ms Geyer was defamed by imputations she was “intimately involved in the Tyrone May sex scandal” and that she “deliberately permitted herself to be filmed having sex with Tyrone May for the purpose of sharing the film with others”.
According to the claim, Ms Geyer has been “greatly injured in her character and credit and in her reputation and has been brought into public hatred, ridicule and contempt.”
Ms Geyer was not the woman in the alleged sex tape.
THE LAW
Recording intimate image without consent
Section 91K of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) states that:
“A person who, for the purpose of obtaining, or enabling another person to obtain, sexual arousal or sexual gratification, films another person who is engaged in a private act without the consent of the person being filmed to being filmed for that purpose, and
knowing that the person being filmed does not consent to being filmed for that purpose, is guilty of an offence.”
The maximum penalty is 100 penalty units or imprisonment for 2 years, or both.
Aggravated offence
If in the circumstance of an aggravated offence the section states that
“A person who, for the purpose of obtaining, or enabling another person to obtain, sexual arousal or sexual gratification, films another person who is engaged in a private act without the consent of the person being filmed to being filmed for that purpose, and
knowing that the person being filmed does not consent to being filmed for that purpose, and in circumstances of aggravation is guilty of an offence.”
The maximum penalty in an aggravated circumstance is imprisonment for 5 years.
AGGRAVATING CIRCUMSTANCES include the following;
- The person whom the offender filmed was a child under the age of 16 years, or
- The offender constructed or adapted the fabric of any building for the purpose of facilitating the commission of the offence.
Distribute intimate image without consent
Section 91Q of the Crimes Act 1900 (NSW) states that:
“A person who intentionally distributes an intimate image of another person without the consent of the person and knowing the person did not consent to the distribution or being reckless as to whether the person consented to the distribution is guilty of an offence.”
The maximum penalty for this offence is 100 penalty units or imprisonment for 3 years, or both.
If you want to learn about this offence or many more, please click the link to visit our website.