A woman is living in fear after her ex-partner threatened to post intimate images online in a sick “revenge porn” attack.
A court heard the man has allegedly been harassing her with texts and calls.
She said she blocked him on her phone but alleged he keeps getting a new number.
The victim told Judge Patrick Durcan in Ennis Court that her former boyfriend follows her every day and that the boiler in her house had been tampered with.
The judge granted the woman a two-year safety order against the accused after hearing how he threatened to post intimate videos and photos of her on Facebook. The man was not in court to contest the application. Last May, the Cabinet approved measures to make “revenge porn” a criminal offence.
However, Dublin Rape Crisis Centre chief Noeline Blackwell yesterday expressed disappointment the proposed laws weren’t enacted before the election was called.
She said the non-consensual posting of intimate photos and videos online is a growing issue.
Ms Blackwell told how current laws are totally inadequate for dealing with abuse as they require a pattern of behaviour.
She said: “That doesn’t cover one lethal uploading online that can have devastating consequences for the person who didn’t give her or his consent.
“The current laws are not strong enough.”
Ms Blackwell also hit out at social media companies for failing to do enough.
A Bill on the issue put forward by Labour in 2017 proposed a six-month prison term.
A Department of Justice spokesman said “the issue of harmful communications is one Minister Charlie Flanagan is concerned about”.
He said the minister proposed a number of amendments to a Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Bill.
He added the Government approved the drafting of these amendments which include penalties of up to seven years imprisonment.
The spokesman stated: “These are intended to be sufficiently harsh to reflect the harm caused by the distribution of intimate images without consent.”
