WARNING: This story incorporates particulars of intimate accomplice violence and will have an effect on those that have skilled it or know somebody who has.
When Larissa Williams acquired a textual content message from an unknown quantity asking if she was taking new purchasers, she had no concept what the individual was referring to.
After a pair minutes of texting forwards and backwards making an attempt to grasp what was occurring, Williams was led to lyla.ch, an internet site generally utilized by escorts and intercourse staff.
Williams opened the location and was confronted with a photograph of her bare physique — a picture she had solely ever shared along with her ex-boyfriend, Cory Lester.
“It was probably the most surreal moments of my life,” stated Williams in a current interview with CBC Information at her residence in Decrease Sackville, N.S. “I used to be taking a look at a picture of myself realizing that somebody that I had beloved and trusted had deeply betrayed me in a manner I by no means may have imagined.”
Her face wasn’t seen within the picture however accompanying the picture was her title, the place she lived, her cellphone quantity and different private data.
Lester was in the end discovered liable below Nova Scotia’s Intimate Images and Cyber-protection Act. He was ordered to pay Williams $45,000 in damages plus $4,000 in courtroom prices for posting the picture and promoting her for intercourse work with out her data or permission in the summertime of 2022.
“He did so in an effort to harass and intimidate her following the demise of their romantic relationship,” wrote Nova Scotia Supreme Court docket Justice Joshua Arnold within the court decision published Jan. 13, 2025.
Arnold additionally described the incident as “retaliatory in nature following a home break-up,” so he issued a 12-month no-contact order to forestall Lester from speaking with Williams.
“Mr. Lester denied below oath being chargeable for posting the picture and advert, did nothing to help in its removing from the web, has accepted no duty and has provided no apology,” wrote Arnold.
This case is the primary reported determination of its form in Nova Scotia below the Intimate Photos Act.
Whereas the lawsuit has introduced Williams a point of closure, she stated there have been many alternatives to carry Lester accountable earlier than she needed to pursue the case civilly.
Lester was initially charged criminally for publishing the intimate picture — which had remained on-line for about 5 weeks.
However in April 2023, the Crown stayed the cost, citing there was no sensible prospect of conviction, in accordance with the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service.
“It is a comparatively new crime that we’re studying about and that police are studying to analyze, so it is going to pose challenges,” stated Williams’s lawyer, Emma Arnold, with the non-profit legislation agency Individuals’s Advocacy and Transformational Hub.
“Nevertheless it’s at all times disappointing when somebody is harmed … they usually cannot get justice via the felony justice system.”
‘Let off the hook’
Williams stated she and Lester have been romantically concerned on and off for about three years, and she or he and her younger son even moved in with him for a short while.
When the connection ended abruptly in February 2021, she stated that is when issues took a flip for the more severe.
She and her son ultimately moved again to their home simply throughout the road from Lester’s.
Williams stated he would shout at her from throughout the highway, name her vulgar names and have interaction in undesirable contact.
She went to the RCMP and Lester was investigated for felony harassment, however expenses weren’t laid attributable to an absence of proof, in accordance with police information obtained by Williams via a freedom of data request.
In December 2021, Williams and Lester filed peace bond functions towards every different. Williams hoped it might forestall Lester from contacting her any additional.
Justice of the peace Bruce V. McLaughlin stated in a listening to on June 7, 2022, that Lester’s utility towards Williams was “vengeful,” “retaliatory” and “designed to intimidate.”
McLaughlin stated he had little question that Williams was fearful, however decided there was no “cheap foundation” for her worry and each functions have been denied.
“Each single time he was sort of let off the hook,” Williams advised CBC.
Precisely one month later, Lester posted Williams’s nude picture on-line.
No sense of security
When she first found the picture, Williams stated she thought-about self-harm and basically went into hiding.
She apprehensive that she and her son could possibly be at risk, notably since her location and cellphone quantity had been made public.
“My life is extraordinarily totally different and I do not know that it’ll ever be the identical,” she stated. “That sense of security that I had previous to this, it is simply gone.”
Williams ultimately discovered that Lester even shared the picture with a mutual neighbour, who in the end deleted it.
“It additionally appeared like [Lester] needed to show to me that she was a prostitute or escort, and that she could not be trusted,” wrote the neighbour in an affidavit.
Setting a precedent
Emma Arnold stated this complete state of affairs was a type of intimate accomplice violence, and she or he feels impressed by Williams for standing up for herself.
She added that though the financial award on this case was on the decrease finish, the truth that it was the primary reported determination in Nova Scotia will hopefully set a precedent, and encourage others who’ve skilled one thing just like come ahead realizing there are totally different avenues to pursue justice.
“[Posting intimate images] is only one different type of abuse that’s obtainable to people now with the brand new expertise that permits them to have this additional diploma of management or energy,” stated Emma Arnold.
For Williams, following via with the lawsuit was about taking that energy again and holding Lester accountable for his actions.
“I’ve a son, and when he is older and I’ve to share this story with him, he must know that there are penalties for issues of this nature,” stated Williams.
She stated she additionally felt compelled to share her story publicly after the deaths of six girls in Nova Scotia who have been killed by their companions inside a span of simply three months.
“With the quantity of intimate accomplice violence that’s occurring, I really feel like if it was addressed sooner the place it is starting … perhaps it would not escalate and develop into extra extreme, and in some instances end result within the lack of life,” stated Williams.
For anybody affected by household or intimate accomplice violence, there’s help obtainable via crisis lines and local support services. For those who’re in rapid hazard or worry on your security or that of others round you, please name 911.
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