A singing star, who found several of her intimate photos on the alleged “star spy’s” computer equipment, called the agony “terrible.” Emotionally faced with the presented images, she lamented the “violation” of her privacy.
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At the sight of a family photo, this identity-protected music personality couldn’t hold back her tears.
“It’s hard to imagine that his private life is so divided,” she said during testimony at Pascal Desgagnés’ trial, which resumed on Monday after a week’s hiatus.
Crown Prosecutor Julien Gaudet-Lachapelle then presented the applicant with intimate photos of her and her ex-spouse. Again the emotion was strong.
“It was private,” the alleged victim insisted, adding that those pictures would “never see the light of day” to be released. “There’s no way we should be living what we’re living today,” she pounded.
constant fear
Especially since the precautions had been taken, she explained to Judge Rachel Gagnon in her testimony via video conference from a courthouse in the greater Montreal area.
Whenever she and her ex-husband took photos or videos in an intimate context, it was always with her phone and not her spouse’s, she was careful to indicate so.
“It was with my phone because not even he wanted to use his and I think it might turn against me one day because maybe I don’t trust him. He preferred to use my phone to give me that confidence,” explained the artist, who says he lost his sleep for fear these images would be disseminated or even sold.
While she said she was never ashamed of taking these pictures in a personal context, she admitted the fear came with the realization that a potentially malicious person could get their hands on this sensitive content.
“There is nothing inherently shameful about having this type of content there. But when it’s out of your hands, when it has the potential to do a lot of harm to a lot of people, then suddenly there’s a kind of shame, an embarrassment. It’s not easy,” the woman testified, adding that her feet gave way when investigators told her the extent of the leak.
“It’s something that should be ours, something that is valuable of whatever kind, something that is received with trust, whether it’s between two people, a couple, friends, family. It should never get into anyone else’s hands.”
“Deep Malaise”
Two other plaintiffs testified Monday morning about the consequences of hacking their iCloud on their lives, also invoking fear, stress and anxiety.
“It invaded my privacy and caused me a lot of stress. Looking at photos and videos in particular made a big difference for me and my close friends in a private way [de gens] seen these pieces,” explained one of the young women, describing the feeling of “a deep uneasiness” at the idea of a stranger having such personal pictures in his possession.
Like the other witnesses already heard, these complainants testified that personal data from their iCloud had been found on Pascal Desgagnés’ computer.
Three other witnesses are to be heard on Monday afternoon.
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