Increased victim services would be welcome, says woman secretly filmed by Alex Seymour
Jess Whittle has some simple and direct advice to any man considering doing what her coworker Alex Seymour did to her two years ago: get help.
“Find help. Find something. Find a resource somewhere,” she says. After about a year of quick court proceedings and delays,
Seymour, 24, was sentenced Monday morning to three months of house arrest, to be followed by a year of probation — with an order to participate in sex offender counselling — and a 10-year registration on the federal sex offender list for secretly videotaping Whittle, Sherri O’halloran and another woman in their offices as they changed their clothes.
The women and Seymour were all employees of Goodlife Fitness in Mount Pearl in 2016 when Seymour hid an old ipod in the offices of his coworkers and recorded them semi-nude as they changed in their offices after exercise classes.
He was caught when Whittle noticed the ipod propped up on a box under her desk. She and O’halloran shared their stories with The Telegram in an interview last month.
Seymour pleaded guilty to three counts of unlawfully making a visual recording in a place where there is a reasonable expectation of privacy. He was sentenced Monday in St. John’s by Judge Jacqueline Brazil.
“The facts of these offences are extremely aggravating,” Brazil said in handing down her sentence. “The victims should have been able to change their clothes in the privacy of their offices, an area where privacy is expected.”
Brazil acknowledged the negative impact Seymour’s crimes have had on the women, thanking O’halloran for presenting a victim impact statement in court, and spoke of the need for public deterrence.
Seymour’s lawyer, Ellen O’gorman, had argued for a conditional discharge, saying it was a “crime of opportunity” since Seymour was a young man working in a business where women changed their clothes and he didn’t resist temptation.
That argument was condemned by women’s advocates, who called it victim blaming and misogynistic. Brazil didn’t buy that defence, either.
“I do not accept the defence position that these were crimes of opportunity,” she said. “Rather, it is a crime that portrays a high level of planning and deviousness.”
Prosecutor Jennifer Colford had argued for a jail term of between three and six months. Brazil sentenced Seymour to house arrest instead, saying she believed he, the women and the public would be best served if the sentence allowed Seymour the chance to rehabilitate. Seymour did not respond when asked if he had any comment as he left the courtroom.
Whittle told reporters she wasn’t yet sure how she felt about the sentence.
“I do feel like the judge really listened and took everything into account that she could, which is great. But I really don’t know how I feel about his sentence, to be honest,” she said. “I think there is definitely a part of me that would have liked to see him face it in a bigger way than being (confined to) his own home.”
Whittle said she would like to see improved services for victims of crime when it comes to the court system.
“I can see that there’s an effort there, but I can see that there’s a lot of room for improvement as well,” she said, explaining she would have liked more personal interaction from Victim Services.
“You get letters in the mail that say basically, ‘We’re here for you and you can do this or that,’ but it would be great to have an actual human that calls you and offers you their assistance or asks you how you’re doing. A letter in the mail is great, but it doesn’t have that personal touch, and it’s scary when you’re involved in something like this to get a letter like that in the mail. You realize that, A, you are a victim, and now it’s in your hands. You have to be the one to reach out, when sometimes you just don’t have it in you to be that one to reach out.”