According to the summary of facts, the victim had a relationship with a man who was married \u2013 but separated \u2013 for about two weeks.<\/p>\n
The defendant found out and tried to contact the law student on Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n The student blocked her but received messages from the woman\u2019s sister calling her a \u201chomewrecker,\u201d telling her she would \u201ccatch her slipping\u201d and she could \u201chave the scraps,\u201d meaning the married man.<\/p>\n The law student severed all ties with him.<\/p>\n The online abuse continued, and a month later she received messages from the woman on Instagram, calling her a \u201cdisgusting wh***\u201d with STIs<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t make me expose you to who you really are,\u201d one message read.<\/p>\n The student again blocked the woman.<\/p>\n Four years later<\/p>\n Four years on, the student was practising as a lawyer and the cyberbullying restarted. <\/p>\n The lawyer received a Facebook message from an account with the same IP address as the mother, telling her to \u201cstay the f*** away\u201d from her man as he was \u201clocked up\u201d and had kids.<\/p>\n The woman suggested the lawyer liked to sleep with gang members and should stick to being \u201ca church girl\u201d.<\/p>\n The lawyer was already fearing for her safety when the messages continued, and the woman wrote to the lawyer\u2019s mother:<\/p>\n \u201cPlease tell your sl**** daughter to stop talking to married men!!!\u201d <\/p>\n She sent a similar message to the lawyer\u2019s grandmother and, a month later, commented on one of the elderly woman\u2019s public social media posts.<\/p>\n The lawyer, distressed by the harm these communications were having on her wh\u0101nau, especially her over-70 grandma, had a panic attack.<\/p>\n An email to her boss<\/p>\n The next day, the mother of two sent an email to the lawyer\u2019s boss, making damaging allegations.<\/p>\n Attached were two nude photos of the lawyer<\/a>.<\/p>\n This caused extreme humiliation and distress for the lawyer, who suffered from insomnia and was prescribed medication. <\/p>\n The same day, the mother messaged a friend saying: \u201cI can\u2019t wait for [the lawyer\u2019s] job to get the photos and the note. Let\u2019s see what happens hehe. Delete that message please\u201d.<\/p>\n A \u2018gleeful celebration\u2019<\/p>\n In court, Judge Wharepouri said that text showed a \u201cgleeful celebration\u201d of the harm caused.<\/p>\n He also noted the woman had a restorative justice meeting with her victim, but during it she barely acknowledged any wrongdoing, blaming the messages on others.<\/p>\n The woman\u2019s lawyer Ish Jayanandan explained most of the messages were sent by others on her client\u2019s behalf, but the woman knew about them and accepted responsibility.<\/p>\n The judge said he could understand the need to differentiate but the woman was far more central to the operation than she was prepared to admit.<\/p>\n Jayanandan said there was a difference between no remorse and not being able to properly express it.<\/p>\n She struggled to speak to her client herself, she said, as the woman was not very forthcoming, and makes statements and \u201cjust withdraws\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s just her personality,\u201d Jayanandan said.<\/p>\n \u2018Far too embarrassed\u2019<\/p>\n Jayanandan also said her client had quit her job instead of having to tell her employer what she had done.<\/p>\n Talking to her manager would have been required to enable the bid for discharge without conviction, but the woman was \u201cfar too embarrassed\u201d, Jayanandan said.<\/p>\n Her client was also offered the alternative justice pathway of Te Pae Oranga<\/a>, Jayanandan said, but she wasn\u2019t prepared to undergo it as it required being questioned about her behaviour.<\/p>\n Crown prosecutor Kim McCoy noted the irony of the woman seeking a discharge without conviction to protect her future employment, when she had targeted the victim\u2019s.<\/p>\n The judge said the irony wasn\u2019t lost on him either.<\/p>\n