Woman to be sentenced for publishing intimate image without consent

By Delon Shurtz on November 1, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

A woman who published intimate images of another woman engaged in a sexual encounter with the first woman’s common-law husband is set to be sentenced when she returns to court next week.

Betty-Jo Healy is set for a sentencing hearing next Tuesday on a single charge of publishing intimate images without consent. The accused pleaded guilty to the charge in August, but details of the offence were not read to the judge until a hearing in October, when the Crown related the circumstances leading up to the offence.

In March 2021 the complainant told police an intimate image of her and Healy’s spouse during a “one-night stand” had been leaked and shared by people on a messenger app. The picture had been taken by the spouse during the sexual encounter in July of 2020, but she didn’t become aware of the picture until the following August when Healy sent it to her in a text message, with a warning to stay away from her spouse or she would release the photo.

The complainant, who believed Healy and her spouse were no longer together at the time of the encounter, didn’t have any further contact with the man until December of 2020 when he told the woman he was no longer in a relationship with Healy. Three months later the two re-connected and the woman posted on Snapchat a picture of the two of them together.

On March 24, 2021 the woman received a text message from a friend who said she received a set of pictures, including one on messenger showing the woman engaged in sexual activity with the man. The other picture was the same picture the woman had taken of her and Healy’s spouse when they had re-connected earlier in the month.

The following day the woman gave police a detailed statement and showed them the intimate photo. Police talked to the woman’s friend who said she received the photos from another friend, who received the photos from someone else, who received the photos directly from Healy. A message accompanying the photos called the victim a “homewrecker.”

Police spoke to Healy’s spouse, who admitted he used his cellphone to take a picture of the woman while they were engaged in sexual activity. Healy subsequently went through his phone and texted the pictures to her own phone.

On April 10, 2021 Healy was arrested and released with a condition that she not have any contact with the victim.

Lethbridge lawyer Cara Lebenzon told court her client admits she became upset that her spouse was being unfaithful and sent the images to the victim, “which she regrets very much.”

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