THE university student who police say took naked pictures of his girlfriend without her knowledge and posted them on Facebook, Tumblr and also circulated them to other people, on Tuesday had his charge upgraded to breaches of the Cybercrime Act and his sentencing rescheduled to September 21.

Micah McHayle, a mathematics and actuarial science major, had pleaded guilty to obscene publication last Friday when he appeared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court, and was scheduled for sentencing yesterday.

But when he reappeared Tuesday before Parish Judge Judith Pusey, the prosecutor withdrew the obscene publication and laid a new charge for breach of the Cybercrime Act, to which McHayle pleaded guilty.

However, the sentencing was delayed after the judge ordered a social enquiry report.

According to the police, McHayle took pictures of the complainant, who is also a university student, and posted then on

Tumblr andFacebook.

The complainant, who was unaware of her boyfriend’s actions, later learnt that naked photos of her were circulating on the Internet after her friends saw them and brought them to her attention.

According to the Crown, lewd photos and text messages were uploaded from McHayle’s laptop onto the social media websites. The Crown also said that McHayle sent the photos to more than one person.

The young man, who had initially pleaded not guilty to the breach, denied uploading the photos to the Internet. “I did not send them to

Facebook, I sent them to an email,” he said.

But the judge told him that once he sent the photos, he is guilty of committing an offence, even if the individual who got the photos was not the intended receiver.

McHayle’s bail was subsequently extended for him to return to court in September.

— Tanesha Mundle