A 20-year-old Nelson man who sent text messages threatening to post details of a woman's sexual abuse on Facebook was sentenced to 5 1/2 months' jail when he appeared in the High Court at Blenheim yesterday.
Rhyce Crawford Milne was sentenced by Justice Ronald Young, after admitting a charge of blackmail.
Justice Young said Milne sent three abusive text messages to a man claiming he owed him $10 in relation to a drug deal.
He threatened that if the debt was not paid, he would reveal details of the man's partner's sexual abuse on social networking site Facebook.
The man did not owe Milne any money, Justice Young said.
Milne was on a final warning after other charges and no address was available for Milne to serve home detention, he said.
Defence counsel Mark Dollimore said the incident was "unsophisticated" and Milne "did not appreciate the impact [the messages] would have on the victims".
Milne had been working on a mussel barge, before sending the messages and co-operated fully with police investigators, he said.
Milne started to use cannabis at 14 and was expelled from school in year 10, Mr Dollimore said.
"He now has an entrenched cannabis problem."
Justice Young said Milne told the police he did not intend to post anything on the website.
He did not believe Milne's excuse that the messages were "spur of the moment", because he sent more than one message.
"I reject the suggestion it was spontaneous.
"You were trying to extort money from people who owed you nothing," Justice Young said.
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