Ex on the Beach star faces jail after posting revenge porn
Ex on the Beach star Kurtis Hartman is facing up to two years in prison after being found guilty of sharing intimate pictures of an ex-girlfriend.
The reality TV star denies the charge, after a public spat with an ex-partner on Twitter.
He claims that a former flatmate posted the still of the woman, who was naked and her face clearly visible, when he was at the gym and away from his phone.
But Magistrate Lorna Rogan dismissed his defence, finding the 22-year-old guilty of sharing a private, sexual image with the intent to cause distress, at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court.
‘All options are left open. It could be a custodial sentence,’ she said, hinting that he could face time behind bars upon sentencing.
Prosecutor Sabrina Farhan said: ‘During the course of their relationship it is accepted that both parties recorded an intimate sexual video.’
Hartman and the victim were in a relationship back in 2017, and is said that she had received the sex video from him but that neither had shared it with anyone else.
Hartman is said to have posted the image after the pair had a spat on Twitter.
‘During the course of that argument the defendant sent a text message to the complainant threatening that unless she deleted those tweets the next tweet he would post will ruin her,’ said Farhan.
A post shared by Kurtis Hartman (@kurtishartmanex) on May 8, 2018 at 2:16pm PDT
Text messages between the two became heated and threatening, after it’s alleged the victim called Hartman a drug dealer on Twitter. His text read: ‘What you on about drug dealer? I would delete that tweet if I were you or the next tweet will ruin you.’
He followed that up with: ‘B*tch don’t talk about me like you know me, you are a fan.’
He then tweeted the explicit still, with Farhan saying: ‘Ultimately the picture was deleted after two hours on Twitter. Both the complainant and the defendant are in the public eye.’
‘The complainant has a large group of children who follow her on Twitter.’
Appearing in court, the actress at the hands of Hartman’s revenge porn, said she was mortified: ‘I was immediately shocked. I was just gob-smacked that he had done it.
‘I started thinking about all the consequences this was going to have. I was just so angry.’
‘Considering I want to be an actress, I could not get a job. I have not told my agent. If anyone else told them they would probably drop me. I just couldn’t do my chosen career,’ she worried.
Hartman continues to deny the charge, despite being convicted for the crime. He faces up to two years in prison for sharing the image.
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