- Senior Counsel Danstan Omari warns young people against turning private images into weapons after relationship disputes.
- He says consent to receive intimate content should never be mistaken for permission to distribute it.
- The warning highlights the legal, financial and emotional consequences that can follow impulsive online behaviour.
A private photograph can take seconds to send, but the consequences of sharing it without consent can follow both the victim and the sender for years.
That is the stark message Senior Counsel Danstan Omari has delivered to young people, warning that leaking, forwarding or publicly exposing another person’s intimate images is not a harmless act of revenge, relationship drama or online entertainment.
Speaking through his popular Court Helicopter platform, Omari cautioned youths against treating intimate photographs and videos as weapons during relationship disputes, particularly after break-ups, betrayals or heated disagreements.
His warning comes at a time when smartphones and social-media platforms have made it remarkably easy for private content to move from one individual to hundreds or even thousands of people within minutes.
What begins as a private disagreement can quickly become a public scandal.
And what appears to be a moment of revenge can potentially become a costly legal battle.
The dangerous mistake many young people make
One of the biggest misconceptions surrounding intimate images is the belief that possession automatically gives someone the right to distribute them.
It does not.
A person may have received an intimate photograph consensually, but that does not necessarily mean they have been given permission to publish it, forward it to friends, upload it to social media or circulate it in a WhatsApp group.
The distinction between receiving private content and distributing it without consent can therefore become extremely important.
Omari’s message is particularly relevant to young people who sometimes respond to relationship breakdowns emotionally.
A relationship ends. Anger takes over. Someone threatens to expose an ex-partner. A photograph is uploaded. Friends begin forwarding it. Within minutes, something that was once deeply private has become public.
The person who shared it may later delete the post.
But by then, the damage may already have been done.
Screenshots may have been taken. Copies may have been downloaded. Other people may have reposted the material.
The internet rarely forgets as quickly as the person who pressed the delete button hopes it will.
Revenge can become an expensive decision
Omari’s warning also highlights another issue many youths may underestimate: financial liability.
A person whose privacy has been violated may pursue legal remedies, including claims for damages where the circumstances and applicable law support such a claim.
This means that an act committed in anger could eventually have a significant financial price.
The irony is that some people leak intimate images believing they are humiliating or punishing an ex-partner.
Instead, they could be creating a legal problem for themselves.
A few seconds of impulsive behaviour can potentially trigger years of litigation and financial consequences.
For someone who has just lost a relationship, the temptation to retaliate may feel overwhelming.
But Omari’s warning effectively poses a simple question: Is revenge worth risking your freedom and financial future?
Your phone can become evidence
The digital age has also changed the nature of evidence.
Messages, screenshots, social-media posts, forwarding records and other digital footprints can potentially become relevant when authorities investigate alleged wrongdoing.
Young people therefore need to understand that online behaviour is not necessarily beyond the reach of the law.
The assumption that an offence committed behind a phone screen is somehow less serious than one committed physically is dangerous.
A smartphone can be a communication device, a camera and a gateway to the world.
But it can also become the very device through which someone’s actions are documented.
That is why experts have repeatedly urged social-media users to exercise restraint before publishing material that could harm another person.
Behind every leaked intimate image is a real human being.
The consequences for victims can extend far beyond the initial embarrassment.
They may face humiliation, damaged relationships, workplace consequences, family conflict, harassment and relentless online abuse.
For some victims, the psychological impact can be devastating.
The fact that an image was originally taken voluntarily does not mean the person consented to having it publicly displayed.
That distinction deserves to be understood clearly.
Consent to take or privately share an intimate photograph is not automatically consent to publish it.
Omari’s warning should not only concern the person who initially leaks an image.
It should also concern everyone who receives it.
A common reaction when explicit material lands in a WhatsApp group is laughter, curiosity or the urge to forward it to another group.
That seemingly harmless decision can contribute to the continued violation of someone’s privacy.
Young people should therefore resist the culture of forwarding everything that lands on their phones.
Not everything that can be shared should be shared.
And not everything that is trending deserves another view, screenshot or repost.
Think before you press send
Perhaps the most important lesson from Omari’s warning is that emotional pain should never be converted into digital revenge.
Relationships collapse.
People fall out.
Promises are broken.
Some relationships end badly.
But none of these situations should automatically become a justification for exposing another person’s intimate life to the public.
The mature response to heartbreak is to walk away, seek support and protect one’s own future.
The immature response is to reach for the phone and begin exposing private material.
And the difference between the two could ultimately be measured not only in dignity, but potentially in financial liability and loss of freedom.
For Kenya’s increasingly digital generation, Omari’s message could hardly be more timely.
Before forwarding an intimate photograph, ask one question:
Did this person give me permission to share it?
If the answer is no, stop.
Do not forward it.
Do not upload it.
Do not repost it.
Do not turn another person’s private moment into public entertainment.
Because once that button is pressed, there may be no way of controlling where the image goes next.
And as Senior Counsel Danstan Omari’s warning makes clear, what begins with one reckless click could end with a courtroom appearance, a substantial financial claim or, depending on the circumstances and offence proved, imprisonment.
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Your phone may be in your hand, but the consequences of what you do with it can follow you far beyond the screen.
By Hillary Muhalya
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