One of the victims of the shocking nude Fijian young women image racket spoke out for the first time yesterday. The victim, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, broke

by sheldon chanel suva

One of the victims of the shocking nude Fijian young women image racket spoke out for the first time yesterday.

The victim, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, broke her silence in the hope that other young women would learn from her experience, which she is still recovering from.

She is the first victim to shed light on the release of the 900 photos and videos of nude young women in a Dropbox.

She said she was so depressed at one stage that she thought of taking her own life.

Snubbed by her friends; blackmailed by her own cousin brother in an attempt to sleep with her; dumped by her boyfriend for being an “embarrassment” – this is a story of a victim, a University of the South Pacific student.

People she had never seen before would point and stare at her; cars would slow down to have a look; close to 10 separate Facebook users messaged her asking if she would sleep with them for money.

She called it an “incurable disease.”

And all that for a mistake she made three years ago when she faithfully allowed her boyfriend of two years to take an intimate picture of them.

This is the story of a girl who nearly lost everything, all because of a mistake she made as a young adult.

The mistake of trusting someone who said loved her. Her story:

“I made a mistake. I was in a relationship with a person when I was 16. I considered it to be my first love. We were together for two years and it was during this time when we started sleeping together. We were planning for a future together.

I naively thought it was a sign of love to be photographed with my partner in an intimate setting. Everyone else was doing it so when he proposed the idea, I did not say no.

We broke up and we moved on, or so I thought. Last year in October, a year after we had broken up, I started receiving calls from my friends. The pictures had been uploaded on the Dropbox with pictures of other University of the South Pacific students. My naked pictures were out there for the world to see.

I was devastated, I panicked, cried and even thought about ending my life. What made it worse was when my very own cousin, a person I had grown up with had called up and asked to sleep with me in return for keeping the pictures from circulating in my family.

It took a lot of courage not to succumb to what he was suggesting. I confided in my mum who became my pillar of strength. We decided not to inform my father of the pictures as he has certain medical conditions, but those pictures were sent to my entire extended family. My entire extended family had seen me in a condition that I had never imagined.

My papa came to know about it from his brothers. I cried more, wanted to die. Papa stopped talking to me and thoughts of suicide started crossing my mind regularly. My mum stood by me.

After two months, papa spoke to me again. He understood that I had made a mistake and trusted the wrong person. He told me to focus on my studies and to move on.

But, it was harder for my brother. Even today, he does not speak to me as he did before. He refused to allow me to tie him a Rakhi until mum stepped in and had to force him not to deny me this right. My younger sister and I no longer share the bond we did before.

Sometimes I just randomly start crying when I think about some of the things I’ve gone through. People start whispering when I am out in town. Strangers point at me and talk. I suffer from depression and the leak worsened my situation. I couldn’t sleep for days and my schoolwork began to suffer as a result.

No one in my family wanted to officially lodge a Police complaint about something so sensitive, fearing that more people will find out.

It took a while for me to trust someone but another person came in my life. When he came to know about the photographs, he was too embarrassed to be seen anywhere with me and we broke up.

He left me. He left me when I needed a shoulder to cry on.

I am scared to enter into a new relationship. What if he finds out about my past and just leaves me?

To the girls whose pictures have been leaked, I want to say that the damage is done. Do not be scared and live your life now.

And to the people behind the leak: how would you feel if your sister’s or your girlfriend’s picture was leaked in the same manner; would you still share it with everyone?

At the moment I am just trying to move past everything that happened. I know I made a mistake but so has everyone else.

I have my whole life ahead of me and I am going to try and fulfill my dreams even after everything that’s happened.”

This interview was edited for clarity.

Edited by Naisa Koroi

Feedback: sheldon.chanel@fijisun.com.fj