$10,000 fine for man who WhatsApped penis pic

A 48-year-old man was on Tuesday ordered to pay a fine of EC$10,000 within a year for sending a photo of his penis to his 16-year-old step daughter’s 18-year-old cousin.

The man, Hudson Prescod, of Vermont/New Montrose, who told the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court that he drives for former health minister Luke Browne, was also bonded for one year.

If he breaches the bond, he must pay EC$2,000 forthwith or go to prison for one year.

“That’s a significant discount from the point at which I thought we should start,” Senior Magistrate Tamika Mc Kenzie told Prescod as she handed down the sentence.

She said she found it particularly aggravating that the situation was “akin to grooming where you start with little comment to try to sway … Telling the woman about bend over in the bath suit and if any consideration,” the senior magistrate said.

“And then you reach to the point where … ‘Leh me show you what you go geh.’ ‘This is the package. You ain’t want the full package?’ Society has to look down on things like that. There is a way to get to it,” she said.

The magistrate noted that at age 18, the virtual complainant is an adult and she and  Prescod could have pursued whatever they wanted consensually.

“You are supposed to take care of children. There is nothing wrong; she is an adult, if she was interested in you and you wanted to pursue her, that was completely up to you,” she said.

“It was an unfortunate mistake that I hope that other full-grown adults who see children as children don’t make.”

The magistrate asked Prescod if she thought that his punishment was sufficient, telling him that she thinks he should see prison.

Prescod said he was thankful for being spared prison time.

Prescod had earlier pleaded guilty to a charge that on Oct. 28, via WhatsApp, he intentionally or recklessly used a computer system to wit his cellular phone to send to Brianna Allen, of New Montrose, an obscene image that was menacing in character and caused her to feel harassed.

The facts, as read by prosecutor, acting Corporal of Police 817 Stapleton, are that Allen knows Prescod because he is her cousin’s stepfather.

Allen gave her cousin permission for Prescod to message her cellular phone to relay pertinent information due to the fact that her cousin’s cellular phone was not functional.

During such time, Prescod sent Allen sexually suggestive videos and photos from the internet.

He would accompany these images with words such as “that could be us”.

On Oct. 28, about 6:43 p.m., Allen opened WhatsApp messenger on her cellular phone and saw that Prescod had sent her a photo of his penis.

When Allen’s mother came home, she told her what had happened.

Allen reported the incident to the Criminal Investigations Department and PC 105 Castello conducted an investigation.

Prescod admitted in the presence of Justice of Peace Mr. Albert Chewitt that he had committed the offence and volunteered a statement to that effect.

‘sad and unfortunate incident’

In the statement, Prescod said that he had intended to send the photo to someone overseas and sent it to Allen by accident.

“It was a sad and unfortunate incident which I do not deny and I did apologise to the said Brianna as well as my step daughter for the unfortunate that was not wilful and intended to be sent to her. The unfortunate picture I am referring to is my penis,” Prescod said in the caution statement.

“This picture was sent via WhatsApp. It was intended for a lady friend by the name of Nicole, but she lives in foreign.”

‘Bend right over safely’

In mitigation, Prescod said that when he realised that he had mis-sent the photo he deleted it from both chats.

On hearing Prescod’s explanation, the senior magistrate asked the investigator if any extraction had been made from the virtual complainant’s phone.

She said this would help the court to determine if Prescod had sent the photo in error.

Catesllo said that Allen had gone to the police IT department, where an officer had extracted the conversation from the mobile device.

The magistrate told the prosecutor that she needed some help in determining whether Prescod had sent the photo in error.

The magistrate said she wanted to know if there were similar messages, “meaning he was trying to establish some things”.

When the matter resumed sometime after, Corporal 604 Stapleton of the police IT department presented to the court the conversation extracted from Allen’s phone, which showed that her interactions with Prescod began in August.

The magistrate asked Prescod if he and Allen were in a relationship and he said no.

“So what swimwear you are buying for the person?” she asked Prescod.

He told the court that it was his stepdaughter’s birthday and he had bought her a swimsuit and he also bought one for Allen.

“I am trying to understand the ‘bend right over’ part,” the magistrate told Prescod, referring to one of the messages he had sent to Allen.

‘Me and my wishful thinking’

In his evidence, Stapleton, the IT specialist, explained — with the aid of overhead projection — that the conversation between Prescod and Allen began on Aug. 31.

Among the images that Prescod sent to her were photos of he, his step daughter and Allen, as well as a photo of himself and he and his stepdaughter, presumably taken on the same day at the same location.

At some other time, he told Allen to let him know if the swimsuit fits, asking her to send him a photo “later”.

Allen later told Prescod that the swimsuit fit and thanked her.

Prescod made a one-minute video call to Allen and responded, “Bend right over safely”.

On Sept. 19, Prescod told Allen it was his “365” — an apparent reference to his birthday – and asked her if she wanted to go for something to eat later.

She said she did not know and “If Bre OK with it, then sure.” She told him happy birthday and he later sent her two photographs.

On Sept. 22, Prescod sent Allen a photo from the internet of a bare-breasted woman with a man standing behind her, cupping one of her breasts.

“Me and my wishful thinking. Any comments?” he later asked her, “Is my wishful thinking possible in any way?”

Prescod told Allen that he did not mean any disrespect …”

Allen responded that she did not know.
‘Help me to understand’

The senior magistrate asked Prescod if the person he said he had intended to send the photo for had been expecting it and whether they had asked about why they had not received it.

She asked this question in light of the fact that the photo had been sent to Allen for over 12 hours before he said he realised he had sent it in error.

“Did they say, ‘Way the picture that you did promise me?’” Mc Kenzie said, telling Prescod that his explanation was not working out.

“Help me to understand,” she told Prescod, who repeatedly said that the photo had been sent in error.

During the sentencing phase of the hearing, Prescod told the court that he drives for Browne and is paid EC$1,700 a month.

Prescod said he can pay EC$1,000 a month on the fine and the magistrate asked him how he intends to live and whether he has other jobs.

“I hope you don’t intend to continue along this road.”

He said that his stepdaughter’s mother is dead.

The senior magistrate asked Prescod to consider who his step daughter would feel, knowing about his interaction with her cousin.