Abusive boyfriend jailed for sex tape blackmail
A jilted boyfriend who threatened to post a sex tape online unless his ex-girlfriend returned the £100 he spent on her birthday present was jailed for 32 months.
Ackiem Augustine, 25, told his former partner that he would send the film to her mother and upload it on to social media unless she handed over the cash.
He sent her a series of messages including ‘Do you think I’m playing?’ and ‘give me the money’ before sending the clip to her sister on Instagram.
Snaresbrook Crown Court heard Augustine was originally in a relationship with the woman between 2010 and 2011 before breaking up.
She took out a restraining order after being assaulted but the pair got back together when the order expired.
In 2014 he splashed out on perfume for her birthday while his mother spent another £40 on a present.
But after being dumped a second time because of his ‘possessive and aggressive’ behaviour he threatened to reveal a film of them having sex which she thought he had deleted.
‘There had been a video which Mr Augustine made of the victim and him having sexual intercourse,’ said prosecutor Rekha Kodikkara.
‘In order to be compensated of his £100 Mr Augustine threatened the victim that he would send that video to her mother and he also threatened to post it on social media.
‘This of course caused her a considerable amount of distress and there were a considerable number of messages sent by Mr Augustine.’
Augustine sent almost 160 messages to his former girlfriend, including ‘I just want my money’ and a demand to ‘arrange a payment’.
Others threatened ‘Do you think I’m playing?’ while she was told to ‘give me the money or I am going to upload the video of you now’.
Augustine eventually sent the clip to his ex as well as posting it on Instagram to her sister who fortunately did not view it before it was taken down.
His ex-girlfriend decided to report him to the police and he pleaded guilty to blackmail just before he was due to stand trial.
Stephanie Wookey, for Augustine, told the court her client has previously worked as a contract electrician and is due to begin a university course in computer audited design next month.
‘His mother and long term girlfriend sit in court to support him,’ she added, telling the court that he had not been in trouble over the past two years.
Judge Sarah Paneth told him: ‘What is clear by way of background to this offence committed between 4 and 14 November 2014 is that you had been in a relationship with the victim.
‘When she sought to end that relationship in 2011, that resulted in threats of violence to her, threats to rape her mother and threats to send friends to assault her.
‘That resulted in convictions for which you were sentenced to supervision and it is apparent from the pre-sentence report that your response to supervision was not as positive as had been hoped.
‘In any event, what happened thereafter is that the relationship resumed in April 2011 and, again, she sought to end it.
‘In the course of that relationship you had taken a clip – a clip of the two of you having sex.
‘She indicated she was unhappy you should have that and you appeared to delete it but did not in fact do so.
‘You retained that clip and in due course when the relationship ended you used that to blackmail her.
‘I am told that there were in excess of 100 messages between 4 and 14 November over a period of 10 days.
‘There were threats in those messags to upload that material – in particular to send it to her mother and sister.
‘Ultimately, it was sent to her and she retained it on her phone.
‘It was also posted on Instagram to her sister but you in fact took that off the day before it was seen.’
Augustine, of (100) Murillo Road, Lewisham, southeast London, was jailed for 32 months and handed a restraining order barring contact with his ex.
He looked around in disbelief after hearing the sentence, asking: ‘Do I have to go?’ He then told his partner: ‘Baby, I love you.’
A charge of voyeurism was left to lie on file.
