By Admin. Updated 6:17 a.m., Friday, January 19, 2024, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4).
A woman is to be paid XCD $6,100 in damages for trespass to land and for the unauthorized access of her phone, tampering with her social media accounts and obtaining explicit photos from the same device without authorization from the woman.
The case was the first-ever cybercrime matter brought into the Georgetown – Mesopotamia district and the largest award of damages for such breaches.
The case was heard in the Magistrates Court on Thursday, January 18, 2024.
Representing the claimant was Lawyer Adrian Odle.
The names of the claimant and the defendant have been concealed due to the nature of the matter.
The Defendant, having sufficient notice of the matter failed to appear and the case proceeded ex parte.
Counsel for the claimant proceeded by establishing that the defendant trespassed outside of the claimant’s place of residence and proceeded to her bedroom window at around 12am on the 25th of November 2022. The defendant refused to leave after being asked multiple times and finally agreed to leave a few minutes after but only if a taxi was called.
While making the call from the window, the defendant snatched her phone and ran away.
The incident was reported in the following hours.
The defendant kept the phone unlocked and proceeded to access her social media accounts, changing passwords and obtaining explicit photos located on the device.
The defendant messaged the claimant from her media accounts and gave her the new passwords. The defendant ousted himself in the messages sent by sending voice notes and responding to his name.
Counsel Odle made application to the court for the evidence of the above to be submitted. This evidence presented itself in the form of extracted evidence from the conversations held between. The two parties.
Counsel mentioned the prevalence of people thinking that there are no consequences to accessing the devices of others without permission and hacking into persons’ social media accounts.
The Magistrate then awarded 6000XCD for the illegal/ unauthorized access to the device and 100XCD in nominal damages for the trespass to land.
Under the Cyber Crime Act it is illegal to access and remain in another person’s device. (Additionally, the defendant returned the cell phone to the police station and that is how it was discovered that the accounts were tampered with and her photos deleted), according to the facts of the case.
Previous case:
The first-ever conviction under the Cybercrime Act in St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) took place in February 2023.
In that case, the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) secured victory when a 23-year-old man was fined $1,000 for violating the privacy of an 18-year-old girl. The charge was laid under the Cyber Crime Act of 2016.
The man was also fined $500 under the Criminal Code for damaging the female’s iPhone and her laptop.
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