Cell phone harassment: Young man convicted of messaging photos with 14-year-olds

• ofLars Becker

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A young man was convicted at the Uelzen district court because he is said to have sent photos of his erect member to a girl. Harassment via social networks and news services has long been increasing.

Uelzen – Contact is made quickly. It starts with harmless “small talk”, but doesn’t stop there. We are talking about conversations that often begin on social networks such as Snapchat, Instagram or Facebook and often continue with news services such as WhatsApp. And the content of these conversations is apparently getting slippery faster and faster with teenagers and adolescents.

For the Hanseatic city of Uelzen and the district, the investigators from the police and public prosecutor’s office or the juvenile court assistance confirm. You all know from your daily practice that cases of sexual assault on the Internet are increasing more and more. There is a catch: this development can hardly be proven with numbers.

The dissemination of pornographic writings is generally recorded as a criminal offense, but there are often further allegations in such investigative proceedings. This is typically harassment, but it can even go as far as sexual abuse of children if the addressee of such images is a minor. Only the more serious offense is included in the statistics.

Very private photos are circulated

How do such cases come about? An example that is considered a sad classic: a girl sends her boyfriend a photo that shows a lot of skin as proof of love. If at some point the two are no longer a couple, the very private image is suddenly circulated out of anger or disappointment via social networks contrary to its original purpose – often with a nasty slogan or otherwise manipulated.

When photos were still taken on film that had to be handed in to a specialist for development, this was difficult to do. “Selfies” with the smartphone, on the other hand, make it seductively easy today to do things that could later be regretted … An investigator who does not want to read his name in the newspaper calls it “the plague” that services like “Snapchat “Do not save conversation histories. The chat is gone forever if the victim does not quickly capture the screen view of the mobile phone or tablet as a “screenshot”. A case from precisely this situation was heard last week at the Uelzen District Court.

The perpetrator only knew victims virtually

According to the indictment, an 18-year-old at the time of the crime last summer should have photographed his erect member first in his pants and then completely bare via “Snapchat”. According to the public prosecutor’s office, he sent the pictures to a 14-year-old whom he did not know personally, but only virtually. Before juvenile judge Dr. Hagemann, incidentally, had to answer the young man because he had feared that the girl would report him. He himself filed a complaint with the police in Uelzen for defamation. The ex officio started investigations into the case, which she had not known until then. As a result, there was a charge of disseminating pornographic literature and false suspicion of the girl.

The young man admitted sharing harmless pictures with the 14-year-old, but vehemently denied the allegations in relation to photos of his intimate area. Judge Dr. Hagemann build a bridge in the direction of the confession, because at least it said in the room that he had reported the police report rather at the insistence of the family and thus started the process himself. “I really didn’t send anything,” he repeated like a prayer wheel. And his defense attorney claimed that no one saw the photos – a friend of the victim had testified otherwise. The court sentenced him to a fine of 400 euros after a trial lasting almost three hours. And will probably have to deal with the next case soon.

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