Bordeaux -
A Frenchman has been ordered to jail and fined for emailing pornographic photos of his ex-girlfriend to her workmates and friends, the woman's lawyer said on Wednesday.
The 53-year-old man, not named in order to protect the woman's identity, sent out the racy images he had collected of her over the course of their two-decade-long relationship early last year, when she broke up with him, said lawyer Arnaud Dupin.
After failing to turn up at the Bordeaux court hearing the case early this month, the man was on Tuesday convicted and sentenced to four months behind bars and another six months suspended for violating the woman's privacy and for harassment.
He was also fined 13 000 euros ($17 800) for money he had taken from their joint bank account, and another 10 000 euros in damages.
Dupin claimed his client allowed the explicit photos, some of which he described as “degrading”, to be taken of her at the man's behest.
“It's like that sometimes... You do things through weakness,” the lawyer said.
He said the couple had been of high social standing but that, when the break-up occurred, the man sent insulting text messages and emails to the ex-girlfriend, who is also aged in her 50s.
The woman had attempted suicide, the lawyer said, and discovered the pictures of her sent to her work colleagues, employers and friends only when she was discharged from hospital. - Sapa-AFP